What 2 Lessons can Hansel and Gretel Teach Us?


Have you already guessed what we can learn from Hansel and Gretel?

 1.They left a trail of breadcrumbs,
leaving a clue for anyone who might be able to help them.

 2.They knew they needed help
and hoped that someone would find their breadcrumbs and follow the path.Unknown Object

So how can this apply to you and I? We could leave a paper trail too! What kind of paper trail?

 Well, a journal would be ideal but sometimes when you're depressed that's just too big a task.

 However, it's important to record somewhere, some aspects of what you are going through.

 Anyone suffering from any kind of mental disorder knows that we have irrational thoughts and so we are not always good at explaining accurately how we feel. Depression can lead to a poor memory and so we can arrive at a doctor's appointment with no idea of how to tell the doctor stuff that might help them help us.

 But if we have made a few notes, that could take the place of a thermometer or a blood test neither of which are available for diagnosing depression.

 Journaling your thoughts and feelings can be indispensable when trying to play detective to your own depression mysteries. But journaling is not for everyone. It is overwhelming for some and simply does not suit others.

 So I have a short list that I do every morning to record the day before (you could do this at bedtime too). Here is my checklist:

 SLEEP
FOOD
MOOD
MIND

 For each of these four things I write 'good, okay, or bad'. If sleep and food were bad yesterday, there is a good chance my mood is not going to be very good today and so I am careful.

 YESTERDAY
TODAY
TOMORROW

 For these three I write 'busy, restful, stressful'. Personally I have to try to avoid more than two busy days in a row.

 This short journaling is easy enough even on a bad day.

 This is kind of like leaving a bread trail for myself. Making these brief notes makes me vigilant of mood changes that I might need to anticipate or a mood dip that I am still recovering from. It forces me to face as much truth as I can in a word or two or three.

 This is particularly important for someone like me with rapid cycling bipolar disorder. Careful notes can help me gauge an oncoming mood change.

 WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling today? Are you creating any kind of paper trail? Think about it. Maybe it's time.

Don't give up! There is hope for depression.

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