Have you ever had one of those days where even you have to ask yourself “what’s the matter with me?” You don’t want to be alone, you want to be held, but you don’t want to be around people or to be bothered. Such an odd internal conflict, I know. But I feel that we have all had one of those days. I started to ask myself what is the matter? Why am I so irritable? It seemed like nothing was going right, it wasn’t one of those happy “usual” days for me. I started to think about the things that were going wrong, everything that I need to do but never seem to have the time to do, all the expectations that are placed on me. I got so overwhelmed with negative thoughts that I wanted to scream. Then it hit me: I’ve been here before! This place my friends is called depression. I, for no reason to my knowledge, was beginning to slip back into that dark place I once lived. That place in my mind where I spent so many years fighting to get out. I was focusing on all the wrong that I couldn’t remember what was right. But then I remembered what God reminded me of the day of my 22nd birthday. He reminded me of all I had overcome to get to this point in my life, all of the adversity I had to face, the challenges I had to triumph over in order to be as happy as I am in life now. The adversity, the hate, the pain, the frustration….the highlight of the previous sentence: these are the things that I had already OVERCOME! Today I was in a place familiar to me, and it would have been easy to stay in this comfortable place of self-doubt and loathing, but I had already overcome this point in my life. As hard as it is to throw on a smile, go out, and socialize, I have far too much to be happy and grateful for to sit around being depressed about circumstances God has and will work out in my favor! We all have our days where life gets us to that place of frustration, we are entitled to our bad days, but the point is do not stay there. I have been able to overcome depression not by going through therapy or joining help groups, but instead by focusing on all that is good in life and remembering that God is the ultimate healer. So on these days that I just can’t seem to get out of a funk, I must remind myself of all that is good, all that God has delivered me from, and all that I have to look forward to. I hope that this message is an encouragement to someone out there. No matter how bad your day may seem, remember you have an incredible life to look forward to! You can, you will, and you must OVERCOME!
Blessings to you all on this day.
ZDSD