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Showing posts from July, 2017

Being Sad, Being Brave

For my friends, my family and my amazing therapist, who wouldn't let me let the squid win. And Joe Manganiello, for being shirtless. You always hear about "anxiety and depression" as a pair. Laurel and Hardy, peanut butter and jelly, anxiety and depression. One rarely enters the spotlight without the other. But while I have worked incredibly hard to overcome (or, at best, learn to live with) my anxiety, depression rarely hit me. A bad day, yes. A bad job that created a few months of awfulness? Sure. But never anything longer than a summer. A few years back, though, I lost whatever spark had made me me. Getting out of bed exhausted me. I wanted nothing to do with my friends, my hobbies or -- honestly -- my life. I didn't want to stop living. No way. I just wanted to hit pause until I could reignite that spark and feel OK again. I was depressed. And it felt a lot like treading water. <Prepare yourself for a really long extended metaphor.> Imagine you'r