The One You Feed - Mini Episode: Depression

Episode Date: April 9, 2017

Mini Episode: DepressionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the Really Know Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure, and does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallyknowreally.com

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Listen to Decisions Decisions on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everybody, it's Eric from The One You Feed, back with another mini-episode. I wonder why I say my name every time. You guys know who it is and what the show is. Maybe I'll drop that moving forward. Anyway, another mini-episode. And this one I want to talk about whether it's worth fighting our depression or accepting our depression. And as I thought about this, I realized I do a little bit of both. And so I thought maybe I would explain that a little bit and maybe wrap my own head around it as I talk about it. depression culture, it's amazing that there's such a thing, maybe I just made that word up, but people who talk a lot about depression and people who have depression, is that a lot of the message is focused on trying to convince the world outside of them that it's not very easy to get over depression. So I think depression has been so stigmatized and there's been so much just smile

and go for a walk and so much misunderstanding of it that I sometimes think that people who suffer from depression spend a lot of time trying to convince the rest of the world that it really is serious, that it really is bad. And I think there's some value in that, but I think we can get stuck in that sometimes. We so badly want to be understood and not stigmatized that I think sometimes we give depression so much power. And I think it's worth trying to imagine me saying this strike a middle ground with that. So I've just been thinking about that. And I think that it's important to fight depression. So I have had depression and wrestled on and off with it for a long time. And I have waged a pretty steady war against it. On one hand. I've tried all the different medications. I continue

to take medication. I work very hard on exercising and meditating and eating right and connecting to others and doing all the things that I know are good for depression. So I've sort of got this sort of constant ongoing effort against depression. And yet at the same time, I tend to treat individual bouts of depression with a great deal of acceptance. If you've listened to the show for long, you've probably heard me talk about treating it like it's the emotional flu. So it's a little bit of a paradox because I am fighting it on one hand. And at the other hand, I'm accepting it. I think what I'm doing is I'm accepting it when it comes because I don't know that there's a whole lot I can do about it right in that moment. Exactly. I'll look at what's going

on with me and I'll say, Oh, have I been exercising or what have I been doing or not been doing and try and get back to those things. But then there's a sort of acceptance like, Oh, here it is again. And I'm just going to have to ride it out for a while. That's why I call it like the flu. When you get sick, you feel miserable for a while, but you know it's going to get better, and you don't tend to give it a lot of existential significance beyond the fact that you're sick. Whereas with depression, if we deal with it cyclically, like I do, if you're not careful, every time it comes up becomes a time to reevaluate the course of your entire life and spiral into an existential crisis. And so I try and more relax with that and go, okay, I've got the emotional

flu. I know it's going to get better. Let me take care of myself like I would if I'm sick. So taking care of myself means exercising and eating well and resting and, you know, talking to friends and doing all that kind of stuff, but I'm not going to make a big fuss about it. So I'm accepting it in that sense, but I don't accept it as a long-term, like there's nothing I can do about it. So I'm sort of doing a little bit of both. And I think the serenity prayer turns out to more often than not be a great answer to nearly anything, which is that, you know, I accept God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. So I can't change that I'm in a depressed spot at that point. The courage to change the things I can. So in general, I'm working to change what I can.

I'm working to do the self-care things. I'm taking the medication. I'm doing what I can do. And then the wisdom to know the difference. And for me, that wisdom to know the difference is the difference between when to fight it and when to accept it. It sort of feels like, this probably isn't a real apt analogy, but I think I've got a long-term sort of war going on against depression,

but I don't jump into every battle that shows up. I really try and pick the battles that make the most sense for me and approach them that way. So that's a pretty quick thought on depression, whether to fight it or accept it, and I think the answer is both. Middle ground, surprise, surprise. And that's it. We'll have another episode out Tuesday. If you like what you hear on the show, and you like what you hear on these mini episodes, supporting us is the best way to keep it going and show your appreciation. You can go to one, you feed.net slash support and make a contribution. And for people who donate at a certain level,

you have to see on the website what it is. Cause that amount fails me at the moment. You get a bonus mini episode every month, as well as an ask me anything where you can send me a question via email and I'll answer it via an audio response that I share with all the Patreons. So thanks again for listening. Thanks to those of you who support the show. And we'll talk again soon.

Bye.