Depression Getaway with Wendy Love

Have you seen this old 1966 movie? It was a glorified bounty hunter story. The title became a memorable saying and many have used it since, including me, today. In the movie, Clint Eastwood plays an enigmatic loner in search of a cache of stolen gold. He represents the good . His bad rival is Lee Van Cleef a ruthless bounty hunter, and his ugly rival is Eli Wallach, a Mexican bandit. And what does this have to do with antidepressants? Well, I am just using that title to show you that I plan to tell you some good , some bad and some ugly sides of antidepressants in this series. Why?  Because there good , bad and ugly sides of antidepressants! I will begin at the beginning of my own journey into the world of depression.

Do you remember this Alka Seltzer tv commercial from 1976? "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is" was an advertising slogan which won many awards. What a wonderful and cute promise. Just plop two tablets into a glass of water,  drink it and voila! Instant relief! I can't even tell you if it worked because I never tried it. But 'Alka Seltzer' is still in business so I imagine it does work to some extent. The ad promises RELIEF and SPEED ! Don't we all want some of that?

What do you watch when you are too tired or too depressed to do anything else? Do you watch stuff that is encouraging, uplifting, and positive? Or do watch stuff that is negative, insulting, violent, and outrageous?

Oh you may have guessed it already. What do woodpeckers and machine guns have in common? The noise? Fast relentless noise! But other than that can you even compare the two? Well, if your woodpecker is pecking on the steel eavestroughing on your house, then yes! It is as noisy as a machine gun to you in that moment! And...as fast! Boy do they go fast. So, as you may have figured out, we have a woodpecker doing just that at our house - pecking on the steel eavestrough. And what time of day? Five o'clock in the morning! Annoying....

As we finish up my 'Happiness Therapy' series I am reminded of yet one more thing that makes me happy - MAKING SOUP! I am sure there are a lot of you who wouldn't enjoy such a task but I do!

Have you seen the movie "Bed of Roses" ? It is a lovely movie with a happy ending and lots of flowers! The main character owns a flower shop and occasionally chooses to make his own deliveries just so he can see the looks on the faces of the people who receive the flowers. That is my favorite part of the movie. We get to go along with him. Each face shows a special reaction.

Water! Water! Water makes me happy. Did you already guess that before you saw the picture? We are doing a 'Happiness Therapy' series and I am sharing some stuff that makes me happy. It is good to know just what makes YOU happy so you can access some of those things for a little 'happiness therapy' of your own.

Old houses, small towns, main streets lined with big old trees.... that can put a smile onto my face just about any time. We spend some time in South Carolina every winter and one town that gives me that happy feeling is Conway. They have an historic district that I just love.

Seeing these little faces at my front door can boost my happiness scale right through the roof! Just because we have depression doesn't mean we have to be, or are going to be, SAD ALL THE TIME! A little happiness sprinkled around can give you a wonderful 'depression getaway' . 'Happiness Therapy' is my topic for the next little while. May you be inspired to try to identify your own 'happy places'.

Sometimes while sitting in church I can get really inspired - but not necessarily by what the preacher is saying! Let me explain. Yes, I will hear something the preacher is saying, but then that makes me think of something else and then something else, and voila! I get inspired. It is kind of indirect inspiration. Does that make any sense to you? I was inspired recently that way by David Small on Pick the Brain. The article is titled 'The Depressed Leader' and there was one line in that article that tweaked my interest: "I made the decision that I want to focus 100% on my happiness."   That one line got me thinking about a whole bunch of other things.

What's warm, and colorful, and made with love, and free! One of my 'hope projects'! Last time I shared David Small's concept of a 'hope project'. I loved his idea! He said it should be something you enjoy, have talent for and helpful to someone else. Depression has made it impossible for me to be 'out there' in the world, volunteering, committing to committees, babysitting grandchildren, etc. The list of what I don't do anymore is long and sometimes I feel kind of worthless. But I still have a creative side to my little artistic self and need to do SOMETHING! I need to feel useful, creative, and make a contribution of some kind. So, here is my hope project.

The last six posts have featured some of 'The Depression Go-Aways' - characters I created to demonstrate something that is important in increasing our awareness of depression and how it affects us and others. But you know what? I got kind of mixed up and found it hard to keep my characters straight! I only just now noticed that I mentioned 'Angry Andrew' twice! My concentration isn't so good lately and these things happen. I am sure you understand about having concentration challenges. It goes with depression, right?

" Hope is the feeling you have  that the feeling you have  isn't permanent." (Jean Kerr) HOPE IS THE KEY TO ALL RECOVERY. (Wendy Love) WITHOUT HOPE THERE IS NO HOPE.  (Wendy Love)

An ice storm to greet spring. Yes, spring has arrived in Ontario! It is dazzling, sparkling and not what we expected at all!  Ice storms are both spectacular and destructive. I love to go outside after an ice storm and take a rake and hit the branches off the trees to encourage the ice to fall so there is less chance of breakage, but it was a noisy job. Noisy! Why noisy? Because all through the woods around me there was the sound of cracking tree branches followed by crashing limbs. Quite a sight, and quite the sounds! Things have finally melted and the sun is shining as I write this. But it is still the main thing on people's minds. Weather is a big deal in Ontario. We experience such extremes. It is the one thing people have in common.