Snap out of it!

If only it were that easy.

Yesterday's blog entry drew mixed reactions. Concern is appreciated. Not "getting it" is understandable. Ignoring it is understandable too. Who really wants to read someone's blog when it's so dark and depressing, and well, even boring. The only reaction that bugs me is the "snap out of it" reaction. "You have a choice in how you feel! If you focus on the negative then of course you'll feel rotten! Just get over it and think about all the great things in your life. It could be a lot worse."

Yeah, it could be a lot worse. But. I'm sure there are those out there who understand that depression is not always just a state of mind. It's not always "choosing to be that way". Why on earth would I choose to be so down and out of things? Why would I pick to lie in bed for half the day instead of doing something fun or creative? It's not always about choice, people.

There is the sort of depression that is caused by your body rebelling against you. That's not a state of mind. There are physical causes for it too. "Oh, but you always get depressed when things are not going great for you. So it must just be your thinking." No. There are times when events in life are great, but the big D hits you hard. Why don't the SAEs (self appointed experts) ever notice that? Why is it that they only see what they want to see? And there is the fact that things such as stress cause the physical "situation" to get worse. Not because of emotional upset from the stress, but how physiology changes when the body is subjected to the press...and the lack of sleep, etc. Perhaps the SAEs are not so expert after all.

So, I say to all of you SAEs out there, you snap out of it. Snap out of your smug self-righteous, know-it-all state of mind and learn to look beyond the end of your nose. There's a whole world out there of which you know little because you are so busy counseling everyone on how to handle things that you really don't understand at all.