(You might have received this post last Saturday but it was scheduled for today so I am leaving it. I apologize if you’ve read it twice.)

I really began writing my book about ten years ago. I just didn’t know it was going to be a devotional. I will be using much of that material because I wouldn’t change a word. It’s as true today as the day I wrote it.

If you’ve just found this blog, you know that I have devoted this blog to the subject of depression and that it is the foundation for the e-book I am currently writing.

Here is how the book started:

“The book I am writing contains very specific steps anyone can take to minimize the number and severity of depressive episodes. Adherence to a different way of acting, talking, and thinking, (yes, in that order) can, for the most part, cause depression to slink off to a corner and disappear in the dark.

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Writing this book is my way of taking a mind-sucking, soul-wrenching, life-zapping illness and providing a way out. It is my gift to those who need help.”

I went on to write:

“As I continued my research, the bits and pieces of what I read started to synthesize in a cohesive way. I became aware of the part I had played in my own depression. I found my eyes opened to many of my own destructive behavior, habits, speech, and thinking, that even now when I catch them early on, prevents me from taking a nose dive once again.

I write from a “take no prisoner” approach. Everything I read coupled with observations from my own life, the lives of other sufferers, and much research, all point to the fact that we all contribute to our own depression in some way. I was unable to find any mental health professional who suggested that depression was always and only due to a chemical imbalance.

There isn’t a book anywhere that suggests all you have to do is take a pill. They ALL suggest other forms of additional therapy.

At the same time, I do not suggest it’s just a matter of positive thinking or self-help techniques. Nor do I suggest that there isn’t a chemical imbalance or possible medical cause. I have a thyroid problem myself but I know that wasn’t the sole cause for my depression.

Even with something as common as a cold, we all know that we can reduce the severity and the duration by engaging in behaviors that make it worse, like not resting, not drinking enough liquids, not taking medication, etc. There is not a single book about depression that doesn’t also address the personal responsibility needed to reduce symptoms.

That being the case, there must be some components of depression for which we have to claim a piece of ownership. That was perhaps the biggest lesson I learned.”

That was most of page one of the first chapter called, “In the beginning”.

I often wondered why I didn’t try to get it published back then. But now I have the freedom to write without hurting anyone now. There were those who wouldn’t have been comfortable with any public acknowledgment of personal problems.

God always gets the timing right. I started my other blog six years ago and often addressed depression. Last January, God made it very clear that the time had come to take this whole process to its logical conclusion and this blog, totally devoted to the subject, was initiated.

So that’s how all this began. It’s just amazing that God has opened this door now, after all these years. I’ve been rereading what I wrote and I can say honestly that I wished there had been something like this when I was having such a hard time.

It’s hard to write about depression when you no longer suffer from it because you have to remember what you would rather forget.

It’s painful.

I am so glad I have many handwritten pieces of my experience, especially my private journals. They are extremely difficult to read but they remind me how far I’ve come.

And how far you can go.

I hope to interrupt the flow of posts once a week to insert some of what I’ve written in the past. I think it will help you understand that I write from someone who has been there.

God bless and have a good day.

The post, “The history of how I started writing about depression” appeared first on thegiftofdepresison.com.