Health Diaries > Bipolar Disorder > Handcuffed to the Roller Coaster
January 17, 2005
It's been a While
I've just been too damn busy to be depressed. Or indeed much of anything. I've come to the conclusion that the worst possible thing for people with depressive tendencies is to just sit around. We need to be doing something, preferably something that activates the mind as well as the body. Of course, when you're depressed, the last thing you feel like doing is anything that requires any effort at all, mind or body...the trick therefore is to get something going BEFORE you feel depressed.
I've been going to school and working. Work has been the physical part of my life. I'm a security officer (sigh), patrolling a mostly-empty office building at night. Well, it keeps me moving, anyway, and the pay's not bad for what I have to do. School is the mental part. I'm working towards my Bachelor's in Criminal Justice, and classes are both fun and demanding. I enjoy the work, but my God, it doesn't leave me much time to do anything else!
Like this. I know I should have made time for this too, I do have my responsibilities, but I've been sleeping late. Right now it's 1 a.m. and I ought to be sleeping, but I forgot my meds today and it's too late to take them now. So I'll be awake for a while.
So much for me. But keeping busy is a very important part of staying healthy. If you've got a depressive tendency, it's a very bad idea to sit home alone in front of the TV set, gazing blankly at flickering images of nothing. For starters, news will make you very depressed if you weren't already, so that lets news channels out. And really, what are you going to watch? If you truly can't get yourself moving, at least read a book.
I keep a whole shelf full of children's books: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Walter Farley, relics of my childhood now held together with scotch tape. I keep these for times when I'm depressed. It really doesn't take much more effort to read "Little House on the Prairie" than it does to watch "I Love Lucy", and it at least stimulates the mind. I recommend the same to you. Children's books, Harlequin romances, simple-minded stuff that doesn't require a lot of thought but it still beats "General Hospital."
If you can, go for a short walk. Reward yourself at the end of it. I sometimes take walks to the corner liquor store just to buy myself a candy bar. This gets me moving, and also gets me out of the house. Who cares if you eat, at this point. Just getting some blood circulating is a big plus.
Those are the two things I've found help a lot. I've been walking a lot lately, and reading more than I care to relate. Maybe that's why I've been feeling so good. After all, it was only in May I was in the hospital. Reading and walking: A quick restorative from depression.
Posted by Susan on January 17, 2005 1:54 AM
