• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Mental Health Resources
    • Depression Resources
  • Blog
    • Coping
    • Medication
    • Self Care
    • Stress and Anxiety
    • Unhelpful thinking
      • Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda
      • Fortune-Telling
      • Guilt and Shame
      • Time Travel
    • Sleep Issues
    • Depression
    • Covid19
    • Suicide & Self-Harm
    • Wellness Tools
      • SMART – Self Management And Recovery Training
      • WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)
      • Change Triangle
  • Contact

“I Suffer From Depression.” Here’s What I Am Learning.

Turnaround
You are here: Home / Featured Home / What’s the point of writing?

What’s the point of writing?

December 18, 2019 by Depression Is Not My Boss Leave a Comment

Sometimes I’ve just got to “write things down.”

I write things and leave out details about others. The truth is, I am only writing from my perspective about how I feel as events unfold in my life.

It is not fair to bring other people into it because they have a right to their own privacy. The bottom line is this blog is my way of working out my relationship with depression. My goal is to work through challenges, bumps in the road, relapses, or whatever I am calling it when I write.

For me, writing this down makes it clearer.

I can hear things and they don’t sink in. When I see things, I can get distracted. But write them down, let me hear them and write them down, now I can understand.

I was the kid in school who wrote massive amounts of notes. Often, I would hardly ever look at them again. The physical act of writing them down helped me remember them. It got me through high school and then through college.

The whole idea of writing out my thoughts in a journal (or blog) came to me before I left them hospital.  On Friday afternoon, we had a visit from a local Chaplin. She brought note paper, cards and envelops. She offered us the chance to write a note to ourselves about how we were feeling. She offered to keep them for 30 days and then mail them to us.

I took her up on the offer.

When the card arrived, as promised, it took me two days to have the strength to open it. It was a connection to the hospital and represented my call for help, my finally saying, “enough is enough.”

READ: why can’t I open this letter?

The idea of writing came as a form of self-care. Journaling was recommended by one of the nurses to process what I was feeling. This proved to be a very helpful undertaking. Reading back to the beginning, to my arrival home from the hospital, I can see the progression of understanding about depression that I am collecting and acting upon.

I am also reminded how sneaky depression can be and how it gets into everything, not just the big issues.

This was probably what surprised me most about depression. After I came home from the hospital, I developed a simplified version of how depression had steered my life. I came up with four major incidences that now I see as major depressive episodes.

This was helpful in looking at the big picture of my relationship with depression.

In later months, I have learned how depression’s habits haunted and still haunt my day to day decision making. There are automatic thoughts and unhelpful thinking styles that I must be on guard about. I am excited about my progress, but I know I am far from this becoming a permanent change.

So, I am writing to understand my personal relationship with depression.

If it helps others, great, but the focus right now is still on me having a balanced life. I can see down the road there will be many, many chances to give back. But right now, I am in the Action Stage of Change.

The SMART Workbook says about the Stages of Change Model:

Action is where a person takes the plunge. Action can take many forms, from the controlled environment of inpatient treatment, to working with a professional counselor, to attending self-help groups, to working on their own – or some combination of these.

Here’s where people try new ways to handle old situations, uncomfortable emotions, urges, and other challenges. THIS STAGE REQUIRES THE GREATEST COMMITMENT OF TIME AND ENERGY, but also is where new changes start to be visible to others.

I am doing all the above and writing, too. I am so thankful to be on the path towards a balanced life.

Filed Under: Featured Home, Self Care, SMART - Self Management And Recovery Training Tagged With: blog posts, depression, depression and anxiety, High-functioning Anxiety, unhealthy thinking styles, Unhelpful thinking, unhelpful thinking styles, write it down

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

I write My Concealed Depression to create Mental Health AwarenessHello, I am Joel. I have Major Depressive Disorder.  I am genuinely determined to figure out my personal relationship with depression. With 40+ years of living with concealed depression, I write my blog to find answers. 

I once got so carried away searching for answers that I even earned a  certification in  SMART Recovery. 

Get my latest posts, (your email is never sold or rented)

I developed a 38 Page Mental Health Tools Flipbook. Complete the Form and Get Your Free Copy Now.

Privacy Policy

Discover Self-Care, Coping Strategies, Understand Anxiety, Track your Triggers, Mood, and Sleep; Recap Therapy Sessions, and more.

https://myconcealeddepression.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/my-concealed-depression-intro.mp4
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

More to See

The startling truth about coping statements for anxiety and depression

The Startling Truth About Coping Statements For Anxiety and Depression

October 28, 2020 By Depression Is Not My Boss

My 101 Coping Strategies for Anxiety

My 101 Best Coping Statements For Anxiety and Depression

October 18, 2020 By Depression Is Not My Boss

Am I Able to Be Happier, to Feel Joy?

January 24, 2023 By Depression Is Not My Boss

Depression almost kept me from summiting mount Kilimanjaro with unhelpful, all or nothing thinking

What Made Depression Almost Keep Me From Summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro?

January 21, 2023 By Depression Is Not My Boss

You Never Pay More, Yet Clicking These Links And Making a Purchase Helps Fund My Blog

PureFormulas.com-Pure Healthy Goodness, Highest-Grade Natural Supplements! Fast, Free Shipping!
Mosaic 250x250
Blog Meets Brand
Your Page Title

Footer

Contact

Email:  my.concealed.depression@gmail.com

Privacy Policy

Recent

  • Is My Anxiety Because I Am Still Unpacking from Africa?
  • Am I Able to Be Happier, to Feel Joy?
  • What Made Depression Almost Keep Me From Summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro?
  • 3 Years and 9 Months After Admitting Depression, I Can Say Merry Christmas
  • What I Learned Having Skin Cancer Removed from My Face

Search

© Copyright 2020 · My Concealed Depression · All Rights Reserved · Designed by The Marketing Momma