New Blog

Come and visit me at my new blog "Depression Getaway" for more inspiration and encouragement!

New Blog Launch!

You are invited to come on over to the launch of my new blog called "Depression Getaway". I will continue to blog there about some positive ideas for coping with depression. The official launch party is on Monday, April 19th. See you there!

I have enjoyed posting here and getting to know all of you. I do hope you will join me at Depression Getaway and we can continue with more ways to get away from depression.

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Can Depression Be Managed?

If you know me by now, you already know how I would answer this question. Yes, depression not only CAN be managed, it SHOULD be managed, it MUST be managed. Like this classroom corner, depression CAN BE MANAGED.

That is why I write about depression: to encourage all of you to manage depression and to help you to find ways to do it. When one thing doesn't work, try something else.

With that in mind, I would like to share a terrific article called "10 Ways to Manage Your Depression Treatment" by Deborah Gray. Keep these kinds of articles handy and the next time you hit a low point, refer to them and find out if there is something you could try that might make a wee bit of difference.

Don't forget to laugh today!

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I 'm praying for you!

Oh, and I have a special announcement next time!

Wendy Love

Grieving...

As I shared with you last time, our family is grieving. My ex-husband, father of my grown daughters, died in an accident at the age of 61. It is hard to tell the difference between depression and grief isn't it?

Somehow with depression it seems like we are all grieving in some way or another. Maybe we are just plain sad. Maybe we are grieving over the life we wish we could live.

But with death there is concrete reason for grieving. And with this kind of sudden unexpected loss, there is the challenge of our emotions. We are doing fine and holding each other up in love. It is good to be a close family at a time like this.

But what about depression during these times? Who can tell the difference? Many are asking me how I am doing, knowing that I can be in pretty bad shape when nothing terrible has even happened. It is only natural for people to think that when tragedy comes along the depression sufferer suffers more than the rest of us. But that is not true and I don't know why.

It is all a mystery to me, but I feel no worse and no better than my normally challenged self. However, I do feel encouraged and surrounded by old friends and good memories. And I have had a chance to watch my own daughters, who I am already so proud of, give their dad a send-off that honoured him in every possible way.

It has been a bittersweet time. I want to share with you the name of a book that was given to me by a dear friend this week. It is called "Letter to a Grieving Heart" by Billy Sprague. It is a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone who is grieving and I plan to buy a few copies to give to friends.

And you know what? I am recommending it to you! Any of us who live with depression, lives with constant grief and this book may be a great comfort to you!

Don't forget to laugh today.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Death and Depression and Holidays?

Depression does actually take a holiday. There are times in our lives when life is so surreal that we forget we even have depression. We are so not ourselves, that depression does not enter the picture...for awhile. For me that time is now.

My ex-husband died this past week in an accident. Our marriage was ended by him fourteen years ago, not by me. I never stopped loving him and so his death has hit me hard. But I have already grieved over the loss of so much of him way back then and oftentimes since, that I didn't think I would have that many tears left in me. Grief is grief, it has an agenda of its own. We were a family with my daughters and my daughters and I now grieve together and remember the good times and there were a lot of good times. It sure is easier to remember the good and forget the bad when someone is gone.

And depression really does take a rest when really big stuff like this happens. Somehow we are able to cope with big huge things, when on a regular day we can barely sort laundry. Don't ask me to explain such an illness, I only know that it is true. It would be easy to say, 'God, if you can give me a break from this illness right now, when I obviously need the break, then why can't you just heal me of the thing and rid me of it altogether?' It is a good question. I have no answers. I do know though that God is giving me the strength right now to get me through this challenging time.

My depression did not become a full-blown illness until I experienced divorced. Maybe with the closure that I am now experiencing the depression may ebb. I admit that I am hoping it will.

So, my friend, whoever you are...what kind of day are you having? What sort of depression are you experiencing these days? Are you getting the help you need? Are you taking care of yourself? Are you getting fresh air and exercise and spending time only with people who are good for you?

Not sure if I will keep posting this week or not...might need to take a break.

Don't give up, I'm praying for you, I really am!

Wendy Love

Hope for the Hopeless?

The conference I attended this past weekend was called "Caring for One Another" put on by Faith and Hope Ministries. The keynote speaker was Dr. Grant Mullen.

It was inspiring, encouraging, informing, affirming and the food was great!

So let me tell you what gives me hope. The very things that I just mentioned: inspiration, encouragement, information and feeling connected. Those things give me hope. They give me new ideas to keep going.

I could not begin to tell you all that I learned this weekend. It will come out in time as I digest it and prepare to write about some of it. But I can tell you that while I was there I felt a renewed sense of hope. Just taking the step to go made me feel better...for awhile.

For me however, a big day out like that, travelling, spending a whole day in a room full of people, listening to new ideas all day long... all of that is exhausting. It is a big risk for me to sign up for something like this. For starters I have to hope I will feel well enough to go and thankfully I did.

But then the next day comes and I will always feel like I have been run over by a truck. It will take me at least one day and maybe more to recover from the outing. Was it worth it? Yes, because it gave me some new hope.

Hope is absolutely essential if you want to survive this illness of depression. You cannot stay hopeless ALL the time. You have to have breaks from it, hopeful breaks!

Next time I will share with you some more little things that give me hope? How about you? Do you have any 'hope ideas' you would like to share?

Don't forget your dose of laughter medicine.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Hope for Me

We have been chatting about hope this week. Depression is an illness that seems most of the times, hopeless. But it doesn't have to be.

If you are going to get some hope you need to identify just exactly what would give YOU hope. It is probably a little different for each of us.

I will share with you some of the things that give me hope. Maybe that will give you some ideas of your own.

Every so once in a while, I will get new resolve to talk to my doctor (again!) about my situation. Maybe I feel the need to try a new drug, or maybe I have read something that questions my diagnosis. Just having the NEW RESOLVE to talk to the doctor (again!) gives me hope. So, new resolve, gives me hope. The hope is also related to the possibility that maybe as a result of a new discussion with the doctor we may together come up with a new idea that may make ALL of the difference.

Thinking about something I did well gives me hope. For instance, this week my grown up daughters took me out for a special lunch for my birthday. They took time away from their busy lives to honour me this way. Since I just turned 60 it is a milestone birthday. When I am with those two fine women, I must say to myself "you did something right Wendy if these two fine women think enough of you to do this for you. And you must have done something right, because look how well they turned out!" Thinking this way gives me hope, hope that my life has not been a complete waste. Hope that my life was once productive and happy and may once again be productive and happy. So, thinking about something good that I did gives me hope that I really am not a complete loser even though this illness at times makes me feel like I am.

How about you? Can you identify the kinds of thoughts and situations that might bring you hope?

Don't forget to laugh today.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love