Melancholia

A great movie. If you want to see what it means to be depressed, Lars Von Trier will show you. Kirsten Dunst gives a great performance. I can't say that I have a lot of experience with depression. I am pretty sure that as a teenager I went through a bout, but I came out the better for it. I studied psychology in college and a lot of emphasis is put on the condition. What makes it relevant to me is that it is such a common thing in society today.

Really?

I am not making a blanket assumption here, but I think that a big percentage of the people who have or are suffering depression are people that know too much. This is the point that I think Lars is making in his movie. The main character tries to fight it but as I can attest, you can't push things down for too long before they bubble over and cause some major problems. Medication is the common answer. Take some happy pills and you can manage it. But I don't think that a depressed person on medication is "happy."  I think it just keeps them treading water for a while or maybe a lifetime.

If you are depressed there isn't anything wrong with you. Yeah maybe there is a chemical imbalance, but what came first? Your sadness or this so-called imbalance? The fact is, if you are depressed, you are actually more honest about life than 99% of the people who claim not to be depressed. What the hell am I talking about and why am I being all dreary again? Well the point to my dreariness always has a silver lining. If you are depressed, get more depressed. Get even realer. Write down all the things that are making you depressed and look at them frankly. Then ask yourself why. The big thing in our society is the "SHOULDS."

How much of your depression is related to the things that you think you "should" be having, doing, or thinking? "SHOULDS" are just another name for fear. Fear of what exactly? I don't know, but you do. You just have to keep asking. How much of your life are you living for you and how much are you living based on the outside world's perception of you?

I don't mean to be lumping all people suffering from this illness into the same category, but I am fairly certain that many people can help themselves by looking fear in the face and exposing how prevalent it is your life. Then take a hard look at the things you are grateful for. From the vantage point of a depressed person, it is hard to do. But there is always something. Having a nice bed to sleep on, getting a phone call from a friend who cares, watching kitten videos on YouTube. Start stock piling your gratitudes and slowly but surely you will start to see the other truth about life. You will start to see how amazing it is and noticing the details that makes everything a miracle. Life is crazy beautiful my friends and it is brief. Love each other and take responsibility for your happiness. Forget about what other people think just for a minute and you see through your own eyes how much there is to appreciate.