THE GREAT DEPRESSION
This is just weird! No one could ever have imagined the time we are living right now. All the new buzz words floating around like a virus, assailing our minds and becoming a very real threat to our mental health are scary in themselves.
This is day twenty one of my self imposed isolation, although I have ventured out on two grocery shopping trips, always respecting the required six foot distancing guideline. We have also taken several drives out in the country, with our take out coffee from home, and keeping to ourselves in our ‘isolation pod’ aka car!
Now the big question; is it causing me major depression? No, and I am in no way flaunting myself as an example of super strength. Nine years ago I lost my first husband to cancer and I must say this isolation and loneliness doesn’t begin to touch what my heart suffered at that time.
Many years before that I had made a commitment to Jesus Christ, choosing to follow Him and allow Him to carry me through any situation life would throw at me. When the pain was the sharpest I don’t believe I would have been capable of making a decision of any kind. However, I found I could just lean into God and literally feel His comforting arms around me. Being buoyed up on hope and a deep sense of inner joy I found I could face every new day looking forward to the promise of God’s mercy and goodness to keep me on track.
I would love to share with you a few of the very practical things I did at that time that helped keep me sane and productive. Systems that I find myself employing again at this time.
Being somewhat of a homebody I don’t see this as a great punishment but I do miss close physical contact with family and friends. Although, in spite of all the jammie jokes out there, I cannot live in pyjamas all day. There goes all drive and ambition. I do love my slow, lazy mornings, but by the time I’ve finished my two cups of coffee I am quite ready to get dressed, do my hair (sort of) and add a little makeup. In doing so I kick the thoughts of laziness and lack of ambition to the curb!
I am a list maker by nature so every evening I think about things that I have been wanting to accomplish for a while and have been too busy or preoccupied to see to. This gives me a starting point in the morning rather than wasting half the day trying to figure out my next step.
I try to think about others in the same situation as myself and ask God for wisdom and direction in doing little things for them to cheer their day and make their lives a bit easier. I love to cook and bake so these days with all the extra time I’m blessed with I find myself making extra meals to bless people with. One of my neighbours is a newly widowed senior who is finding it difficult to cook anymore. Between her and a few others I find my thoughts less consumed with self pity and depression and more with counting all the blessings I have!
These are just a few thoughts that I hope and pray will bring a new perspective to mind. As I said, I practised these things after my husband’s passing and found my days to consistently get better and brighter, filled with purpose instead of pain, joy-driven rather than just getting through the day!
If you have read my first book ‘Joy in the Mourning’ you have read these thoughts before and they
still ring true. After all it is truly a grieving we are all experiencing; letting go of the life we’ve known till now, mourning the ‘normal’ life we had and getting used to a whole different normal.
Please be encouraged, this will not be forever, the path will take another curve and after all we are still on the way to the party!
This is day twenty one of my self imposed isolation, although I have ventured out on two grocery shopping trips, always respecting the required six foot distancing guideline. We have also taken several drives out in the country, with our take out coffee from home, and keeping to ourselves in our ‘isolation pod’ aka car!
Now the big question; is it causing me major depression? No, and I am in no way flaunting myself as an example of super strength. Nine years ago I lost my first husband to cancer and I must say this isolation and loneliness doesn’t begin to touch what my heart suffered at that time.
Many years before that I had made a commitment to Jesus Christ, choosing to follow Him and allow Him to carry me through any situation life would throw at me. When the pain was the sharpest I don’t believe I would have been capable of making a decision of any kind. However, I found I could just lean into God and literally feel His comforting arms around me. Being buoyed up on hope and a deep sense of inner joy I found I could face every new day looking forward to the promise of God’s mercy and goodness to keep me on track.
I would love to share with you a few of the very practical things I did at that time that helped keep me sane and productive. Systems that I find myself employing again at this time.
Being somewhat of a homebody I don’t see this as a great punishment but I do miss close physical contact with family and friends. Although, in spite of all the jammie jokes out there, I cannot live in pyjamas all day. There goes all drive and ambition. I do love my slow, lazy mornings, but by the time I’ve finished my two cups of coffee I am quite ready to get dressed, do my hair (sort of) and add a little makeup. In doing so I kick the thoughts of laziness and lack of ambition to the curb!
I am a list maker by nature so every evening I think about things that I have been wanting to accomplish for a while and have been too busy or preoccupied to see to. This gives me a starting point in the morning rather than wasting half the day trying to figure out my next step.
I try to think about others in the same situation as myself and ask God for wisdom and direction in doing little things for them to cheer their day and make their lives a bit easier. I love to cook and bake so these days with all the extra time I’m blessed with I find myself making extra meals to bless people with. One of my neighbours is a newly widowed senior who is finding it difficult to cook anymore. Between her and a few others I find my thoughts less consumed with self pity and depression and more with counting all the blessings I have!
These are just a few thoughts that I hope and pray will bring a new perspective to mind. As I said, I practised these things after my husband’s passing and found my days to consistently get better and brighter, filled with purpose instead of pain, joy-driven rather than just getting through the day!
If you have read my first book ‘Joy in the Mourning’ you have read these thoughts before and they
still ring true. After all it is truly a grieving we are all experiencing; letting go of the life we’ve known till now, mourning the ‘normal’ life we had and getting used to a whole different normal.
Please be encouraged, this will not be forever, the path will take another curve and after all we are still on the way to the party!
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