Wednesday; July 31

I realize that clinical depression is a genuine mental illness, but I think there is something much more prevalent and much more infectious. I probably grew up calling it the “blahs”, but it is basically just feeling discouraged about life. We don’t have a diagnosis, but we don’t have positive outlook of life, either. We are sad, we are worried, we are disheartened. Maybe a more descriptive term is that we feel yucky about life! This pandemic has been around throughout history, but I think we are becoming more prone to it because we are not only dealing with our challenges, we are also intimately aware of everyone else’s issues. We see tragedy from all around the world 24 hours a day. We read about other people’s emotional struggles through their social media. We are staying at home more and don’t get the fresh air and the refreshing spirit of the outside natural world.

I think we know that we can’t change what is going on in the world around us nor can we fix other people’s problems, but we must translate that knowledge into our emotional welfare. It’s okay to feel sad for what others are going through or be shocked by what happens around the world, but we have to find a place to put those issues. Sure, we need to care about our neighbors, but it isn’t healthy to internalize everyone else’s stress and anxiety. Maybe a good rule of thumb is that if we don’t have the power to fixt it, we shouldn’t bear the burden of carrying it around on our shoulders. Let’s demonstrate care – but let’s not become overloaded by things we can’t control.

Think About It!

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