Today’s societies, actually  a consumer oriented society  in which   the latest “gizmo” or the latest “just have to have it”   item appears on the horizon or on the market.

Now that Christmas is over, all gift packages    unwrapped and all the “gizmo’s”  batteries from our toys have gone dead, it’s back to square one. It’s back to thinking about which of our many video games to give our undivided attention to.  Or it’s time to return our gifts that either don’t fit, mechanisms don’t work as well as we thought, or they don’t quite fit in with our tastes for our  home décor.

Now add to all of this, at least in our Northern hemisphere, longer and dark days, plus the frigid temperatures.  Most of us stay inside  our homes, unwilling to brave the snow, sleet and  icy roads.

A common two word complaint from the younger generation that I didn’t hear much of when I was growing up is “I’m bored.”   Also, “there is nothing to do.”  “What”  I say to myself, “how can this be?”    There is so much to do!

I believe that all of the above is a set-up for melancholia. We are face to face  with ourselves, and with no particular purpose or meaning for our lives except looking for some form of  immediate  gratification.  We become isolated in our negative thoughts and begin to feel alone and like nomads in the midst of a desert with no map  indicating what our next step should be.  Life sometimes is like a chess game where we are  check-mated–no where we can go to escape  being trapped and totally isolated. And by  being “bored”  and “with nothing to do” we  may slowly and imperceptibly descend into the enveloping quicksand of depression.

“Is this all there is?”  No, not at all, but if YOU  are all there is,  then  you may  probably   find yourself trapped and isolated.  Everything will come to a standstill, excepting that painful  hollow feeling in your soul that material possessions, prestige or pride will be unable to fill.  What will heal this gaping hole in your spirit?  What will allow you  to again look beyond your self so that you might see that this world filled with color and beauty can once again be yours?

Here is what I have discovered after having been trapped, isolated and depressed. I discovered and became part of a fellowship that helped me gradually climb out of my depression where I found out that “there is more!” Yes, there  is hope beyond just what I have, what I own or my desire for  more. There is the hope that what I have now has nothing really to do with anything material –it has to do with the  belief  in a  Higher Power greater than myself -a God of my understanding.

This Higher Power, and  this fellowship of Depressed Anonymous has for these many years  led me to others who  are looking for something to believe in – something to hope for. Possibly your own feelings of worthlessness and helplessness, which were my feelings too before  Depressed Anonymous as well. It is here where the   freedom  and the spiritual principles of the Twelve Steps continue  to provide  me   peace and joy  to this very day.

Hugh

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Read my story (there IS more!)  and many others in our DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS, 3rd edition,(2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

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