Dear Mom

Dear Mom:

I’m writing this letter to you, but you will never see it. I am not going to send it to you; I am posting it on my depression blog. That is because to a large degree, I suffer from depression because of you. That may sound harsh, but I believe it is true. I believe I inherited depression from you, in three ways.

Though You’ve Broken Your Vows a Thousand Times

I’ve started going to church regularly again. I used to go “religiously”, but gradually dropped out over the past two or three years. I don’t always enjoy the services, but I like the people and I want to be part of the community.

Writing—Or Not

Does writing come easily for you, or do you have to force yourself to do it? I tend to lean toward the latter extreme. It’s one of those things I almost always enjoy once I do it, but have a lot of trouble motivating myself to do.

Things Are Ok

Boy, it didn’t take long for me to start neglecting this blog. I had hoped to update it about once a week, but as you can see, that has not been happening. Perhaps the main reason I haven’t been posting is that I haven’t felt depressed much lately. I’ve been feeling well enough to spend my time living, I suppose, rather than writing about the depression that keeps me from living.

It’s My Turn

I’d like to draw your attention to something. It’s My Turn is a project initiated by a brave young man named Mark Andrew Alward. Its purpose is “to give those of us who live with mental illness an opportunity to tell our stories, to know that we are NOT alone, and to reduce the shame or stigma surrounding mental illness”. Check out the growing number of people who have joined the It’s My Turn movement by posting videos on YouTube, taking their turn to tell their story. When you feel ready, you can take your turn.

Be good to each other.

J

Belated Book List for 2011

It’s taken me a long time to get this post together, but better late than never. One of the things I keep track of each year is the books I’ve read. Doing this every year gives me a time line of my personal development, and allows me to look back and see when it was that I read a particular book.

The past year and a half has been difficult, and one of the ways I’ve dealt with that is by reading books that help me understand what’s happening and learn to respond differently to some of the challenges in life. A major theme of last year was a painful relationship breakup that happened in September of 2010. So, my reading since then has been dominated by self-help books. Below are a few words about each book. I invite you to seek out and read any of these books that speak to you.