Holidays R Here! Depressed?

Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Bah Humbug!
The Fall to Winter Seasons are upon us already, can you believe it? No sooner have the Merchants put up displays for Holloween than they have in the same aisle Christmas and Thanksgiving items! Push Push Push for that Almighty Dollar you can hear them yell and hollar!
Witches and Candy Cane, they’re all driving us INSANE! Stores are bustlin’ and shoppers hustlin’! Traffic’s crazy and I don’t mean maybe!
So now that the pressure is on once again, food to prepare, who likes what and how? Presents to be bought for who? But last year they just looked at it and set it down and said, “Ho hum”, I heard them! In fifteen minutes on Christmas morning all of the shopping and budgeting and planning has culminated to one big frenzy, over what?

What really matters the most? The ipod? New pc? That new BMW parked in the driveway with the big bow tied on it, to “Sweetie”? Uncle Elbert and Aunt Shirley coming for dinner? The new grand baby you haven’t seen yet for the first time?

Most agree that it’s about family, good times, good food good grief I’ll be glad when it’s over! Layaway? Some wish that “they” could be layed away till it’s all finished! And for some that freshly fallen snow of Jingle Bells is now a frozen rut in the middle of the road, brown colored from dirt and grease and temperatures falling below freezing. While the temperatures are going down down down the heating bills are going up up up!

And Oh! Look! Here comes the January Credit Card bills! Ho Ho Ho Hoooooooooly Smoke! Good Golley what a let down!

So what? Am I being a Scrooge, a Holiday pooper? Naw! Actually, I’m a big (and I do mean “big”) Santa at heart! I thoroughly love them! At least, most parts of the Holidays.

But wait, there’s another thing happening this time of year, more than any other time of year. Feeling “down”. Feeling lonely. Sadness rushing in like a cold wind. Memories of lost loved ones, or a marriage/love that has gone sour. Hostilities are very prevalent, as are domestic violence and anger issues. Disapointments. Lack of sufficient finances, layoffs, unemployment, divorce, breakups between couples. Want me to go on? You’d likely like me to go jump in the lake about now, huh?

But the fact is, it’s real. It doesn’t just go away “like that”. It often lingers; depression. What a horrible word. It brings with it the feeling of hopelessness, pushed into a corner, don’t know which wey to turn…just want to sleep…just want to be left alone. And, so you are. Left alone. And the ones around you, they are too. With out you. The sadness hangs over your home and family like a thick dark cloud, and follows you wherever you go. Everyone is afraid to “disturb you”. You don’t laugh any more, just sit and stare straight ahead into nothingness. You don’t make, or get involved in much conversation. You are at the end of your “rope”.

Why am I talking like this?! I’ll tell you why, because I have L I V E D it! And believe me, it’s no fun. So, you go to the Doctor, and he prescribes some mind altering drug! I’m not here to think that I know more than the Doctors, Psychiatrists and Psychologists and Counsellors, believe me.

Let’s look at something shall we? We are made up of three parts; body, soul and spirit, right? They are a good analogy for the “Trinity”, Theologically speaking. There is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, called the Holy Trinity. Many say that is hard to understand and maybe they’re right. But think of it this way, the “three-in-one” is just like us in a way! Our body is a whole world of it’s own? Well not so quick….because it’s not on it’s “own” at all. They, all three, work closely together. Your Soul, on the other hand, is the self expression, intelligence, thoughts, attitudes and personality all rolled into one bundle. “They’;ve got SOUL!” That is the “you” in you! You may be the life of the party! On the outside! On the inside you may be lonely, afraid, insecure, troubled, but nobody sees the inside of you. You seem to handle things pretty well, and be in charge of yourself, things just don’t “bother you”…so people THINK!

And then there is the “Spirit” side of you. That is the Spiritual part of you that separates you from the animal and plant kingdom. You are a human being! You choose right from wrong, right? You have a conscience! Life’s events may have dulled it somewhat, but it’s still there!

So now what! We are body, soul and spirit, all balled up into one. And one effects the other two. Body down, sick, in pain? Usually after a while and your other two will join you, some of us, anyways. And we know that the body produces certain chemicals, hormones and other names that I can’t pronounce. Well, they have frequent chats with the brain and decide most of our feelings! I really didn’t understand any of this until my father had cancer of the adrenaline gland, which by the way, is either attached, or close to your kidney I understand. Correct me if I’m wrong, somebody. When dad’s adrenaline gland went south, it affected his personality and emotions. Wow, what a change, even his body language changed! Poor dad died of that cancer in October of ’85, four days after his 65th birthday. I miss dad, especially this time of year.

So let me put this to an end by saying this, maybe it will help, maybe not. It helped me. If the Dr. says “take this”, well you had better do what he says ok? He knows far more than myself by a long shot. I found a little secret. (And I was very very close to goin’ ridin’ on that long black train, if you know what I mean)

I had to get “out of myself”. This sickness is very inward, it does most of its damage on the inside of us, then manifests itself on the outside. Some counsellors have called it, “the personality of Satan” but that might be going a little too far. Here is what worked for me. I started doing things for other people. I finally realized that the world doesn’t revolve around me, and I don’t mean that sarcastically. I mean that there are others who are also suffering. I started by going out to nursing homes and seeing the misery others have, loneliness and despair. Hopelessness. Loss of family and/or friends visiting, all left alone, many of them. I happen to be musically inclined, so I started playing for them and singing! Not the funeral march either! There’s enough of that there already! Some lively stuff, Ol’ Jerry Lee Lewis stuff, faster gospel music, and, yeah, some of the ol songs they love to hear too. And I found that by getting out to help them, I helped myself. It picked me up, and didn’t take months and years either. I began talking to them, smiling with them, listening to them and getting to know them. After a while I started talking more to other people, strangers in the store and post office. We’re really not “strangers” when you come right down to it, just friends we haven’t met yet, that’s all. We’re all people. Same likes, dislikes, hurts, hopes, loves and desires; we are human beings. All shapes, lengths, colors and cultures, ideas and ways of expressing ourselves.

So look, you’re not the “BAD ONE”. ok? Don’t give up, please? You can, literally, pull yourself up by your own boot straps if you try. You’re going to have troubles, damn right you are! You can do this thing! And if you don’t know who you really are then go to Psalms chapter 139 if you have a Bible, and that will help you to see yourself as God sees you, ok? And listen, friend, God don’t make no JUNK! 🙂 And some times you might just need someone to talk to! Can’t keep everything inside all the time! Someone who knows how to keep their big mouth shut! There are some of them around still. And God listens to you, but He don’t always keep his mouth shut! He speaks to your heart and your spirit, just listen. He’s always there for you. And so am I. I might not always have all the right answers, don’t know that I even know the right questions! But I’ll tell you this, that I care. And others do too, just have to find them! Just don’t go gettin’ on that Long Black Train ok?