"Depressed or Deep-Rest" - #WritingPromptWednesday

How do you know if you’re depressed? I read somewhere one time that the word ‘depressed’ is phonetically spoken as ‘deep - rest”, and I thought that was really cool because sometimes that’s all we really need is a time-out.

For this week’s #WritingPrompt, I want you to focus on what constitutes deep rest for you?

How can you give more of that to yourself on a regular basis so that you don’t get to the level of deep stress or even slip into depression?

I’m not a doctor, so if you feel the need for professional care, please seek it. You don't have to deal with depression on your own.

All I’m saying is that sometimes our level of ‘down-ness’ has more to do with overwhelm than it does with chemical imbalance.

Depression can be a way of retreating from the stresses of life. It can provide an escape in a way. I know it did for me.

- As long as I stayed curled up, I didn’t have to take action.

- As long as I stayed a victim of my circumstances, I didn’t have to cope with change.

- As long as I hide away, I didn’t have to face my own truth

- As long as I suffered in silence, I didn’t have to take responsibility

We all do things in our own way, and we all come to realizations in our own time.

Use this week’s prompt to dig a little deeper into how you sometimes let yourself slide.

Depression ‘serves’ us sometimes (as in my list above), but here’s the trouble with depression - left unattended, it can take over. It can become so habitual that everything seems to trigger it.

Take some time to write honestly about your relationship with depression. Investigate the times in the past when it was much easier to retreat from the world than to face it. But go a step further with your exploration - how did retreating serve you? Well, or not so well?

What did it take for you to come up out of that hole? Is there a way you can prevent heading for the hole?

Make a list of ‘survival tips’ to use whenever you start feeling down. Can you consider ‘deep-rest’ over ‘depression’ next time?

As always, I wish you well on your journey of self-discovery. However, if self-discovery is not getting you anywhere, then please reach out to a friend (me included) or seek professional help.

Be well.