Depression: Five Throw-Away Journal Ideas You Write in Secret

Sometimes the best kind of journal is the one that you shred, light on fire, then cast its ashes to the wind.Last January, I woke up severely depressed one morning. At first, I didn ’t realize what was happening. I just knew that I had no will to move, no will to eat, no will to do anything.I felt interred with heavy, suffocating sadness.Mmm, that sounds rather dramatic, doesn ’t it?The moment I realized I was depressed, I grabbed my iPhone and began dictating a blog entry to Siri as a coping strategy. However, it was all in the same vein as that emo sentence above —nice and juicy with just the right amount of adverbial angst and self-indulgence. We should all be grateful that I deleted every single word of it.Normally, I avoid blogging or posting on social media while under the influence ofMajor Depressive Disorder. Despite my efforts to sound upbeat, depression affects my narrative voice and mental outlook. Fortunately, hindsight gained from experience keeps me from embarrassing myself online. I tend to write only when I have a handle on my emotions. Otherwise, my writing would become a morbid dance that leans towards the theatrical, like graves dancing in the rain.That morning, however, I wasn’t worried about the need to self-edit. I had an urge to express my fathomless despair. I wouldn’t dream of sharing that private, turgid moment of maudlin, morning, mopey malaise with others.Okeh, okeh …I’ll stop with the purple prose!.The abandoned journal e...
Source: The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Depression Goodreads Writing Source Type: blogs