Chasing it

When I'm sad I often wallow in my sadness, and guess what happens? It gets about a hundred times worse. I've dealt with depression for years now, so I know that you can't just "shake it" or "let it go". But God created us as human beings, with a free will. We may not always be able to make the conscious decision to be happy, and then magically become happy. But we can make other decisions. We can do things that lead us to happiness. Think of it as cheating the depression system. I happen to love finding loopholes, (I need to appreciate rules more than I do, but that's a whole other topic), and this is no exception. The little things that love most can remind you what happiness feels like, It can start a chain reaction of leaving behind the grey world that fills your pillows with tears and in turn, run towards the smiles. It could be praying for someone else, or just talking to God in general. Telling Him about your day and thanking Him for the little things, like how you got to eat pizza two days in a row or that your favorite song came on the radio. Maybe it's making yourself watch a movie that gets you to laugh, or painting your nails, even though depression is telling you it's pointless. For me it's all of these things. I sat down to write a post filled with all sorts of somber thoughts and feelings, but now I find myself listening to Christmas music and feeling not nearly as down, quite frankly. There's nothing wrong with taking care of yourself, and part of that is not giving into sadness. It's making the decision to say no to sad songs, sad articles online, sad news, sad books, and sad movies. Surround yourself with happiness, and love and most importantly people who remind you of this, until the depressive thoughts drown out. There's so much to be thankful and joyful about, so please go chase after it. :)