Depression gets a bad rap because it can be so all-consuming and overpowering. If you give in to it and let depression take you over, it could destroy you. You could lose all desire to go on and even contemplate suicide. Depression is debilitating, can be horrible and all the while, depression is a good thing.
Depression is hard to go through and in our contemporary society, we do everything we can to avoid it or stave off the effects of depression. We self-medicate or reach out for prescription medications to keep us from feeling bad and this works to some degree. It makes us numb to the effects of depression, and we feel better.
We know, that the approach of self-numbing without some attention being paid to the underlying causes of the depression is counter-productive, now that we have statistical data to look back on to evaluate the lack of success due to the “ignore it for long enough and it will go away,” approach to dealing with the feelings associated with depression.
Creating a false sense of wellness is not good medicine.
We now realize that creating a false sense of wellness and not dealing with the issues related to the causal factors of depression is not good medicine.
And while we’ve been spending all this time focusing on tweaking the brain’s chemistry to make people feel better, we’ve missed the point completely:
Depression is a Good Thing
Why do you think you get depressed?
You get depressed because something’s not right, and when something’s wrong, it needs some attention.
Depression is like the Check Engine light on your car.
Sure, you can still drive your car with the Check Engine light on, so what’s the worry? You can ignore it, even put tape over it and pretend it’s not even lighted at all.
If you ignore it, your car will fail. Left unchecked, your car could be reduced to 3,000 pounds of useless equipment on the side of the road.
Depression is God’s gift to the humanity, a sort of check engine light, alerting your consciousness in a profound way that things need to change.
Just like the check engine light, when you become aware of depression, at your earliest convenience, you would be well-advised to take your vehicle (body) into the shop to at the very least run diagnostics to see what might be amiss.
Depending on the cause of the depression (check engine light) you may not need to take immediate action. You may be able to continue to operate your vehicle unimpeded for a while, while you make plans for dealing with the underlying issues causing the fix engine light (depression) to catch your attention.
You might be able to spray something here, dab something there, or pour a little something in the gas tank, while you’re figuring out what approach you’re going to take to resolve the issue, but this is only temporary. If you do not deal with the cause of the indication of the need for repair, replacement, or radical change, you will be left with a situation which may be far worse, possibly altogether unrepairable.
Depression is a Good Thing
While it is uncomfortable and painful, depression is alerting you that something needs to be done to change your life for the better.
Don’t be shy about getting third-party assistance in seeing what’s wrong because often we are unable to see what’s going on under the hood. Check with a trusted friend or seek out a therapist, coach, counselor, or member of the clergy to reach out to for a more in-depth diagnostic.
The good news is, on the other side of the depression, if you’ve tended to the reason for the depression and made the necessary life-changes, a brighter, more meaningful life of love and happiness awaits you.
Once you’ve dealt with and resolved your depressive issues, you can start to live a better life, your best life, and make the world a better place.
So, the next time you get depressed, don’t run to the “drug store” to numb the feeling. Instead, consider drilling down into your soul to see if you can figure out what repairs, replacements, or radical changes need to be made. Massive change will make you feel much better than any form of self-medication. Plus, it will raise your vibration and change the direction if your life, creating a whole new world of possibilities.
Your new, more expanded and evolved, life is waiting for you.