I had depression once and it almost killed me.
It can come in many forms and ways and let’s not debate on the cause whether it’s hereditary, dietary, spiritual, or whatever. It’s better to find out the cause of one’s depression and then do something about it. In my case, well.. I lost my first girlfriend. To another guy who shall we say took her “behind my back”. If memory serves me right, my bout lasted for about 8 months.
Now I don’t have to go into specifics on what happened. All that you need to know is I was seriously depressed. And along with that, all the other deadly “D’s” you can think about on your mind. Doubt. Discouragement. Disaster. Drudgery. Been there. Done that but no shirt and never would want to step back into that place again if you ask me.
What did I do that helped me move on?
Taking up a new hobby was one of the first things that I did. I was a real estate agent at the time, so it must have been odd if you saw me drawing cartoons. Yup. Drawing not Mickey Mouse or Garfield, but my own versions in my own little world. It served as a way of distracting myself and strangely opened up other doors of opportunities later in my career.
Surrounding myself with an inner circle of friends who truly knew what I was going through was another thing that helped me along the way. Going to their pads, chilling out, shouting and screaming my lungs out, then knowing that I have them was a relief.
Lastly, after much spiritual guidance and counseling from my parents and people in the church, as the Scripture says, I just gave up all my heavy burdens to the Lord, and let Him do what He would want to do with it. In essence, it helped me accept my situation, move on eventually, and start again (something very hard to do).
What worked for me, may not work for you, but I hope sooner or later, you’d wake up to reality and be free from the bondage of depression. With Christ’s help, nothing is impossible.
By Jeff M Walker
Jeff is a passionate sports writer and blogger. Basketball in particular. The NBA to be more specific is his lifeblood. And don’t get into an argument with him on who’s the greatest between Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, as his answer will always be ... biased. None. He’s a Boston Celtic hardcore fanatic.