Saturday, February 6, 2010

Misguided strategies for coping with depression

Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly unhappy, I like to crawl into bed and cry my eyes out. Then get out of bed resolving to do something productive, and sit on the floor for 20 minutes staring at the bookshelf. Then turn around and spend 20 more minutes staring at the window.

Sometimes, when I'm sick to the teeth of feeling beaten down, I get in the fighting spirit, upon which I start compulsively thinking of inspirational quotes from pop culture.

During a particularly extended fit of gritty optimism, I once spent several days in a row trying to remember a song that I thought would be just perfect to describe my newfound attitude. I was absolutely delighted when it came to me: "Ain't nothing gonna breaka my stride! Nobody gonna slow me down! Oh no! I got to keep on moving!" Why don't I ever hear that song any more?

Sometimes, when I am tempted to revert to my usual puddle of grief, I think to myself, "Never give up! Never surrender!" That comes to you direct from Galaxy Quest. Yes, I get my chief motivational quote from a nonexistent trashy science fiction television series played by a bunch of imaginary washed-up actors. No wonder I always want to lie down and cry.

Oh well, sometimes I up the ante a bit and lift my inspiration from blockbuster science fiction instead--Independence Day! Consider this uplifting speech: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" Oh my gosh! A speech that rhymes! How cool! "We're going to live on! We're going to survive!" Wait, now that doesn't rhyme at all. What are you doing to me, Independence Day? You can't just start rhyming, and abandon it halfway through! Obviously I can't look to you for my moral support!

Oh well, bring me some more 80's pop then! Just don't bring the clothes and hair with it, or I'll never be able to stop weeping.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry you feel like that sometimes. I think a lot of people try to distract themselves from how they feel rather than fighting through it. They don't like hearing encouraging words cause I think they don't even want to acknowledge there is something they are struggling with.
Keep fighting! Don't surrender! You can win this.
-Julie