Depression Getaway with Wendy Love

  The word 'thankfulness' is not something that comes to mind when you suffer from depression. The word 'thankfulness' is not something that comes to mind when you suffer from anything! Recently I had a conversation with three friends. All of them had horrendous heartbreaking stories of suffering, mostly at the hands of their own families. That made me extra thankful for my life.  Yes, I have known heartache, but none that matches theirs. I felt overwhelmingly thankful. Yes, I live with depression. But I manage it. I do have a life. A good life. I have never had to be hospitalized. I am able to take part in activities which bring me joy. I have so much to be thankful for. So I decided then and there that this is going to be a YEAR OF THANKFULNESS .  I looked up 'thankfulness' in my favourite book, my bible, and it equates thankfulness with praise. Therefore I can only assume that when I praise God I am automatically being thankful. I have written about 'th...

  Have you heard the buzz? I mean the buzz that humming is helpful? Humming helped me recently. I was on a short flight and one the things I usually do to stay calm while I travel is to listen to a book. But this time my earbuds would not work. I just suffered through for a few minutes and then remembered what I read on instagram recently, that humming was a great reducer for stress. And so I hummed and it helped! As simple as that. It's easy, it's cheap, it's immediate. What's not to like about that?  Psychology Today gives this explanation of humming: Humming does more than create sound; it produces vibrations that ripple through the body, stimulating the  vagus nerve . The stimulation activates the parasympathetic  nervous system —the system responsible for calming you down and reversing the fight-or-flight response. When activated, the body shifts into rest-and-digest mode, which decreases stress and promotes relaxation. According to the Mayo Clinic Some of the p...

  Grandchildren coming to visit is definitely  "something to look forward to"  for me. It happens fairly regularly at our place on Wednesday and Thursday and so each one of those days I have   "something to look forward to." I had a therapist one time that always ended our sessions with that question   "what have you got to look forward to?"  It left our visit on a positive tone. Sometimes I would have to think for a bit before, in my depressed state, I could think of anything to look forward to. But then when I did think about it I was surprised that I really did have few things coming up to look forward to! In my daily devotions, when I write in my journal, I include a little measurement of my mood. I have a list which I put a note beside with these titles: sleep, food, body, mood, mind, yesterday, today and tomorrow. This helps me get a sense of what I might be up against that day. It also gives me an idea of what might already be good about the day, ma...

  Casy and I say "Hi!" Welcome to Depression Getaway with Wendy Love! This is me, Wendy Love, with my emotional support dog, Casey. Oh I know, all dogs are emotional support dogs, it's in their DNA, but this little guy was chosen for that one purpose. And he is doing a great job. If this is your first time visiting Depression Getaway, then welcome! This blog spans many years and many topics. The farther you scroll, the older the posts, but know this - they all matter. Old or new, the message stays the same:  There is hope for depression! As I write this I have just finished speaking to a group of wonderful Christian ladies, about my journey with depression and how my bible helps me. Whenever I speak, I can see faces and stories and hurts and hopes. As people watch me and listen I can tell that they either have depression or some sort of mental illness themselves, or they love someone who does.  And when I speak of the hope that my bible gives me I can see them too, bein...

I loved that ad way back in 1996 that Staples did using the Christmas song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" . You might want to check it out for a good giggle and a fun twist on the most wonderful time of the year. Is this a good time of the year for you? In a lot of ways it is for me. I love the weather, cooler temperatures, no bugs. I feel invigorated and wanting to get things done that I didn't do during the summer. Summer is filled with visitors and outings and just enjoying the weather, so September seems to be the kick off for me to do other things around the house. But there is also a downside for me at this time of year. My mood dips. It just happens. And apparently many people with any kind of mental illness, especially bipolar, find the change of seasons difficult. There is a good article on the Mayo Clinic website (which I encourage you to use as a reliable source of medical information. They describe the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, a...

  One of the first blogs I read about depression, about 20 years ago was called 'Roller Coaster' . It was written by someone who had bipolar disorder, like me. I remember it clearly. It was the middle of the night, and I was in yet another depressive episode, wondering if there was any hope for me so I went 'online' and looked up 'depression blogs'. I wasn't even sure there was such a thing but there it was! What a comfort to see that I was not the only one with bipolar disorder. It was so affirming to hear someone describe the same symptoms I was experiencing. I felt validated, like I was not imagining the whole thing.  Way back then, there were about 1% of the blogs that there are now. Good blogs about depression were hard to find. And people often made comments. Others responded to those comments. It was helpful and I felt less alone.