Being sad is so hard.

 

 

January 19

 

I seem to have sent out invitations for a pity party for one. Funny thing is I didn't realize I was hosting this event! It just sprang up on me! The problem with these types of parties is that for one thing, you have to have them alone and two, they are so depressing!

For some reason once in a while the long winter nights seem to get to me. It seems that it's dark all the time! I get up, it's dark! I get out of work, its dark! I go to bed yeah you got it, its dark! I feel like I forgot to pay my sunshine bill and someone shut it off!

Maybe somewhere in my family tree, I really was related to a tree. You know what I mean? The leaves fall off, you go into a deep sleep, look kind of dead and don't come back to life until sometime in April!

I feel like that! The hard part is that my family won't cooperate with me when I want to host this type of party! No one will leave me alone to wallow in my own self-pity! They won't stop being funny so I won't have to laugh! They won't feel sorry for me! I have it tough! Not even the dog will help out! She's all happy and joyous, dancing around when she sees me! (Either that or she has to go potty really bad!)

But as I sat there trying to feel sorry for myself, trying to be depressed, it dawned on me how much hard work it really was.

Don't get me wrong. I know that there are a lot of men and women who have serious mental illnesses. These ailments require treatment and consume a large part of their lives trying to overcome them. But it seems that nowadays people claim depression almost as freely as if they had a tension headache or a hangnail. Depression is a serious ailment. Yet flip through any women's magazine and they flaunt it like the latest fall fashions. They try to make it "chic" or the "okay" thing to do or be! Depression isn't something we use to hide behind because we have guilt over our past mistakes. It's not something we evoke because we are having a hard time balancing work and our family life. Most certainly it's not to be used as an excuse to get rid of our husbands/wives, shun our responsibilities or to overeat, overspent, cheat or over-indulge! Using it for these reasons is a total insult to the many people who have serious mental issues to contend with. When you are down, think of how much effort it really takes to keep feeling that way. If a friend tries to cheer you up, you laugh, but then you revert back to being down again. I think of how much time we waste holding on to feelings of despair instead of rejoicing in the happy things in our life. Think for a moment of all the things in life that are ours free of charge. For example, the feeling of wiggling our toes into cool green, grass or feeling the gentle kiss of a warm summer day's breeze. You ever have to pay for taking in the intoxicating smell of the ocean?

Have you ever been awed by the breath-taking view from a Mountaintop? How about being infected with the sweet, contagious laughter of a child or reacting to the soft touch of a loving hand.

Okay some of you are saying that all these things can be bought, but it's not the same and it's not what I am talking about!

God put these things here for all of us to enjoy. Free of charge!

Yet most times we are so obsessed with what the world places value on that we totally miss the opportunities to enjoy them.

Do you remember what you got for gifts your last birthday, last Christmas? Probably not!

Do you remember when your child first walked? When they spoke their first words?

When you got your first kiss?

These milestones will forever be etched in our hearts and in our souls, because they are priceless!

If only we could remember these things when we are trying to get down and sad, maybe we wouldn't feel so bad!

 

Okay, hear, Ye, Hear, Ye!

I hereby declare this pity party for one officially cancelled!

What do you say, Sadie girl, want to go for a run?