LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  87 

(July 28, 2007)

When a blogging pal responded with suggestions on how to deal with my feelings of being on the brink of another depression, I did the following:

  • In the afternoon I talked to a dear friend about how I was feeling. Talking to her always makes me feel better. When my mood suffers I need to talk to someone about it. I try not to make that all we talk about though.
  • In the evening I went for a walk with my husband at a park. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop for an iced cappuccino.
  • When we came home we played a board game we’ve really come to enjoy.
  • The next day was Living Room. It’s hard not to be up when that meeting happens. Leading it feeds me. It’s the work God gave me to do and always brings joy.
  • On the day of Living Room, I found a copy of BC Christian News, a newspaper that goes to all the churches in this area and beyond. On page 3 they had published my testimony, something I had sent to them a while back. They printed my photograph way too big, but fortunately it’s a good one.
  • On that same day I found that their website had published an article I wrote about creativity and how it benefits us emotionally.

I believe that how we live our lives, especially when depression has not quite taken hold, can help us avoid the trap of falling into the hole. It would be interesting to hear how others feel about that. To what extent can we push depression away by our attitude and in how we spend our time?

It is hard not to worry when your mood seems to slide, even slightly. I always talk about how we shouldn’t be so fearful because fear just makes things worse. But how can you avoid it? I like a friend’s term “vigilance”. Yes, it’s not so much that we fear, we’re just vigilant – and we need to be.

By the way, our attendance at Living Room was high for a summertime meeting. We had sixteen participants. Good thing we decided to meet through the summer.