Good day List Members,
A group of time ago I shared the fact that my not-so-finely tuned body had
embraced Clinical Depression (CD). A number of you wrote to me to share
thoughts. This is a follow up to share where my own wonderful self is today.
The anti-depressant is now working 100% so the chemical imbalance that is
CD has now been corrected. I am currently dealing with normal mood swings
rather than the intensely negative moods brought on by the lack of
serotonin in my body. I am slowly replacing self-destructive paradigms
closely held for many years. These are paradigms that affected my self
worth and my ability to socialize with others.
In the midst of the climb out of the morass of CD, I started looking at
me. This was something that I had not done in the past because I didn't
like what I saw. I knew that something had to change and the only thing I
could possibly change was me so I looked. I began to discover things
inherently me and, amazingly enough, began to like what I saw. I spent
much time dwelling on these things because the mind can only think of one
thing at a time and if I filled it with things good and pure, things
negative and destructive had no place to rest. This was a difficult
process but I knew that the expected result was worth the effort.
Today, I am no longer dealing with a chemical imbalance. Early on, I
began exercising and now wear a size 34 pant rather than the size 38 I was
wearing when this wonderfulness started. My wind is much better and, when
riding my bicycle, I have no problem riding 50 to 60 miles. Those with
whom I regularly ride can no longer keep up with me. BTW, I'm 52 years
old. Pretty cool. I started yoga classes and am really liking the fact
that I have greater flexibility and breathe better. For years I have
wanted to learn to play the fiddle (blue grass) so I've begun to take
violin lessons and am doing well.
At work, folks were very worried and have been great. They are more
concerned with my health than with doing lotsa stuff that can wait. I work
for EDS (Electronic Data Systems) and am part of a geographically dispersed
team tasked with developing project management and systems engineering
processes for folks across 30 to 50 different solution centers across the
U.S. and Canada. I have to get my technical fix at home developing windows
applications with Visual Basic.
I am busy and doing all the right things. I am doing well enough that I
don't need to see my therapist regularly any longer. The bottom line is
that CD is eminently treatable and anyone suspecting that they are
suffering from this very insidious disease can get help. If any of you
suspect that you are embracing this wonderfulness, please let me know and I
can send you more information to help you assess the possibility. This
holds for loved ones (or those you don't like very much for that matter
:-}) ) as well.
Take care,
Jeff Jones
[log in to unmask]
