I wonder what the difference is between depression and unhappiness. I get anger, something I did not express enough of for much of my life. And I understand resentment that grows out of anger. I try to deal with resentments as they present themselves--work through the anger, pray for the person, do something physical. But I would like to discover what it means to be unhappy compared to depressed. From language use, many people attribute unhappiness to circumstances and such that can be changed. Depression is more of a sentence that has to be commuted by drugs or talk therapy or both.
Sometimes I feel like there is another step that I am not privy to. Today the homily at church included advice about not living so much for the planned future that we miss the here and now. "Everything will be fine once I get the job," or "Things will be good once I retire" were two examples of possibly not getting much out of today. I am willing to grant that living only for a plan is not healthy or holy, but what then is the next step? If God grants me the serenity to know what I can change and what I cannot, what do I then do about the unchanged stuff?
2 comments:
I wonder what the difference is too. I try not to dwell on the question, because I start to fear I am self diagnosing, or even others.
However, trying to live in the now has been the only cure for thoughts I wish to delete, now I just need to commit to living in the now.
Colleen, thank you for the comment. And, may I say, it is very insightful. I really do have to work on that "now" thing as well.
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