On Finding Balance

Shaved-headed me, on a Florida beach. But no, this post is not about yoga.

Reading has always been a fall-back pastime for me: I can remember when I was growing up, always having some book with me to read when we went out to dinner, if we had company over, during long drives in the backseat of our family van. I love getting lost in stories or finding myself in memoirs.

Recently I’m seeking out more depression-themed reading, both on the internet and in book form. I realized as winter came to a close that in addition to having virtually no close friends geographically close by, I wasn’t really trying to find anyone who identified with depression, in person or online. And wasn’t that just making the sense of loneliness and isolation worse?

So I searched for blogs, read more mental health articles, and picked up book recommendations. Here are a few books that I’ve delved into, some more current than others, but all relevant:

I recommend them all 🙂

Of course, I have a tendency to get waaay immersed in things. The Noonday Demon in particular lately has the ability to ensnare me in with its identifiable tales of life-sucking depression, while at the same time maybe not really helping to improve my mood.  The key to finding balance (not saying I’ve found it!), is knowing when to put down the book, or the computer, and actually put some of that stuff you’re reading about into practice.

So, small doses. Try to tip the scale so it’s not at total consumption of depression-related content, or none at all. I can do that.

The first half of today, I was sitting on the couch, feeling pretty weepy and down. I want to be so much more than this, I don’t want to have to put in so much effort. And then inspiration struck: I came across a picture of some nearby waterfalls. Waterfalls!  The title of the book on the bottom of that pile above seems particularly apt- Unstuck!

We are off to hike and find waterfalls on this splendidly hot day. What’s gotten you unstuck lately? How do you find balance?

(Oh and P.S. Great blog post here on treating people with mental illness equally.)