If you have picked it up yet, I do suffer from severe depression. It’s a side effect of PTSD and trauma. A false narrative is conquering depression. That doesn’t happen you just combat it the best you can. I have been having a great week. I recently had an answer to over a years worth of prayer, and the answer had made me soar on cloud 9 the past couple of days. So it should have been a give in that I would wake up on a holiday depressed and depressing to be around.

First off, let me shine a little light on depression itself. Many people see it as an attitude or something you can just snap out of. Most of the time, when I am depressed I have no idea that it’s going on. I’m just miserable, and it’s pretty much just a state of being. Many times, I am convinced the people around me are the ones in the foul mood. So, to dispel any myth of depression is just a mood no it is not.

The next thing I would like to say is depression does not care who you are when it takes ahold of you. Your strengths or weaknesses of character do not matter to it. It does not matter if you think you’re mentally strong or not. It does not care if you think you’re better than other people or not. It does not just seek a weak-minded individual because most of the strongest people I know suffer from depression. So do not look at those with depression as weak.

Next, you can not determine or plan on when depression will hit. I was having a great week up until this morning. I had even done well enough to buy all my girls’ flowers and a card for Valentines (which was the blog I originally started writing about). Instead, I woke up this morning just ready to fight the world and angry. All that happiness and planning reduced to a thought of your not strong enough to do this, and you are not good enough to do it. A mentality I have had to deal with for years. I failed at something once, and since I’ve had the thoughts of failure in my head. It comes as a response to me planning the next steps of my families life.

Depression is such a hard thing to explain to people. They look at you weird and think you’re just weak if you’re depressed. The idea of a donkey in a stick house jumps out. The donkey who just exists to be upset. The truth is the happiest people have issues with depression also. Look at Robin Williams or Chester Bennington for examples of celebrities that seemed so happy yet suffered from extreme depression.

I should have known that today would trigger my depression because as much as I’ve tried to make sure I make holidays like this meaningful to my family, I have a dislike for holidays like today and the people it brings out.

Now that I’ve discussed depression in general, let me discuss how I combat it. The biggest thing is realizing it is happening and starting to combat it. Sometimes, I don’t realize that for hours or even days, it’s going on, then it becomes clear all of a sudden that I have been depressed.

My first go-to many times is to quote my favorite Bible verse. It is my favorite Bible verse because it helps me deal with my weak times.

Isaiah 40:31
[31]But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

The second thing I do is turn on music. I will be honest. My biggest weakness since turning my life to Christ is music. I still find myself sometimes listening to something I shouldn’t be, and when this computes with my brain, I change it, but sometimes I get a half hour into a jam session and realize oops that wasn’t the right music. I have lately gotten better because my Amazon Music For Me filters have purged all the wordly stuff, and it’s mostly decent music now. Opinions on CCM are what they are for each person, but that is for each to decide on their own and by their own convictions.

The next step many times is reading the Bible and writing. Here has been a great help for me as I am able to write my mind, and hey, if someone reads it, cool. If not, I feel better just writing. Then, as far as reading your Bible, let’s be honest. When is it a bad thing to do so? I don’t really care what version you call yours. I have mine, and I have my reason as hopefully you do to if not maybe you should know why you read the version you do because it is God’s word and the wrong version maybe missing some key words and phrases. Either way, it’s God’s word, and even if it’s missing stuff, a little bit of God’s word is better than none. So instead of fighting over thees and thous fight over God So Loved the World.

My other things I do to combat depression are things I do to stop it in the first place as much as I can. The first is church attendance. I attend church because I need a place to hear others’ thoughts on the Bible and its meanings and not just what I think it means. It also gives me a place to call home as a Christian. I personally have a lot of spiritual and emotional value invested into the word home, and maybe one day, that will be a post here.

I coach youth sports. This might be the most selfish thing I do with my life to combat depression. I found that I was less depressed for long periods of time when I had a team I was coaching. I recognized a shift in my thought pattern, too. My thoughts of suicide drown to a nonfactor during a season no matter the sport because I have kids relying on me. So I coach a lot, and it’s because I love my kids and because it helps me deal with my depression and PTSD.

I feel like me learning to deal with my depression and finding a place to put it has led to me having a better life and has kept me alive. I am working as I write this on some things to help others combat depression and PTSD. I hope that if you suffer from either of these, you find the thing that helps you combat it. I know that depression sucks and it’s not something we like to talk about due to the negative stigma of it all but that’s all right I’m here and I’ll speak out about it and you can reach out to me if you have questions on how to combat depression. I’m not an expert on it, but I have years of experience and an honorary degree!