The Valley.
One of the fundamental ways of understanding depression is to think of it like this: things aren’t the way you would like them to be, and you are convinced there is nothing you can do about it. The result is depression.
Of course, whether or not things are actually as you think/perceive they are is debatable, and whether or not you can do something about it could be just a change of perspective away.
The cycle of my life has always included a Valley. When I was younger, I thought I needed to fight it–to overcome it. When that didn’t work, I figured that must just be how life is, and I gave in to it so deeply that I spent a lot of years viewing life through the Valley’s crap-colored glasses.
Then, it dawned on me to just…experience it. Go through it. Let it run its course, like we have to do with a common virus, and on the other side will be relief, insight, perspective, inspiration, etc. This doesn’t apply to everyone, granted (for various chemical/genetic/spiritual reasons), but, it works for me and this is how I roll now.
So, comin’ through. Wiping the crap from my lenses, and gettin’ on with things. Lots of stored up things to blog about.
I’ve been reading voraciously this year, more than I have, well, maybe ever. Just finished “There Is A God: How the World’s Most Notorious Athiest Changed His Mind” and now reading “American Creation - Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic” and “Musicophilia - Tales of Music and the Brain” (I bounce back and forth).