Far too many of us know that when you’re in a depressed state it is so difficult to choose to live. That is, to get up and live each day. In other words, when depressed you are alive, but choosing to live becomes “the” issue.
Twelve years ago after a very painful relapse I found it so difficult to just get up every morning following my hospitalization. It felt as though I could not face the day; it felt safer to stay in bed. It certainly did not feel as though as though things would ever get better.
For me there was a point where I discovered that I simply had to choose to live in spite of how I was feeling. My feelings were lying to me. I realized that in “choosing to live”, that is, doing something productive each day was actually was improving my mood. I discovered I had some control over the “monster of depression” that seemingly was holding me in its’ death grip.
Recently I launched a free weekly podcast called Fresh Hope Today and interviewed a young lady named Stacy. She, like myself, has really struggled with “getting up” and choosing to live. But, recently she had a recovery-breakthrough that has empowered to override the desire to “sit-down and give-up and give-in” to her bipolar disorder. She has a very compelling story.
One of the lies that bipolar disorder tell us is that we have no power to override anything; leaving us to only believe that we must then take the wild coaster ride of mood swings. And while medicine is key in recovery; choosing to push through and live is also key. It is SO hard to do. We must work with our medicine, as medicine is not a magic bullet.
What has been helpful to you in choosing to live? Are you choosing to get up and live in spite of how you feel? Why? Why not?