Welcome to Depression Recovery

Welcome to the Depression Recovery blog! If you suffer with depression or love someone who does, you have come to the right place for encouragement and practical help. I am not a health professional, but I know the darkness of major depression and the crippling effects of anxiety and OCD that often accompany it. Living with depression, I masked my way through daily life, waking each morning feeling as though someone had died and then realizing....it was me. Perhaps you agree that a fitting definition of major depression is death without the benefit of being unconscious. If that sounds a little dramatic, then that's good. If it sounds painfully accurate, then you've come to the right place, because I also know what recovery is! Take heart, friend. I invite you to read my blog from the beginning post and onward as I have logged my progress (and lack of it sometimes), and have not only spotted the light at the end of the tunnel, but have emerged into its presence!

I invite you to email me at
simmonsmg@wildblue.net if you have questions or comments as you read.

Starting Your Journey

Begin your journey to depression recovery by starting from the first post. ~ To read it, click here.

You may also click here to read all the posts for 2009, then continue in reading the archives for 2010. Please remember to start with the last post and work your way backwards to the most current post. Thank you!


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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Courage!

Well, I haven't blogged in a while. That means nothing, really, except that I'm behind.

The GREAT THING I want to report on here today is this: I was telling a friend the other day how much the Dr. Nedley sessions on DVD are helping me and how I'm continuing to do great. She said that she was proud of me for having the COURAGE to do those. She said, "It takes courage to commit to a program like that" etc.... And it made me feel sooo good. I realized that the reason it was so meaningful for me to hear her tell me I have courage is because courage is what depression stole from me! Depression stole courage and replaced it with fear. That's what depression does....among other things. So, it was so healing just to hear that. So when I awoke with an episode of darkness the other morning, tempted to roll over and fall into the spiral, I was able to quickly come out of it because I remembered my friend telling me that I have courage! :-)

If you (out there somewhere) feel that depression has robbed you of courage, take heart. You are NOT without courage. If you were, you wouldn't be reading this. You are wanting to recover and you are believing that you can do it. That takes courage! Also, remember that courage is a trait of God's own character, and He is so ready to share any of his traits with us. Fear is not of his character. So, we need to keep asking God to replace fear with courage. Fear can be valid or it can just simply be chemical activity that manifests itself as fear. Either way, God is the giver of peace and courage.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent post, Gwen! I hadn't really thought of it the way you describe, but you are right. COURAGE for the day! One day at a time. Thanks for sharing!

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