Beyond reading her blog, I look forward to her e-mails. She writes me several times a week about comments I have left on her blog or she has left on mine. I would honestly have to say she is one of my closest blogging friends.
The post she wrote is open and very honest about a struggle in her life. I hope you will not only read her words appreciating that fact, but will leave her a comment on her blog letting her know how her words have affected you.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could pause that recorder anywhere we want in life? Maybe even fast forward through a bad relationship or rewind a favorite moment in life like a wedding or a birth? My pause button was activated a few years ago and I wish with all my being I could have turned that pause off.
Through sobs and tears, I heard the doctor say “You are suffering from Depression and Anxiety.” Talk about my pause button being pushed! I didn’t quite understand why the doctor was saying this because I had come in to see her about not being able to bounce back from the flu. I walked into the doctor’s office that afternoon totally unaware that I was suffering from anything other than flu. I knew I couldn’t eat, was extremely emotional (cried almost every morning) lost my interest in shopping, didn’t want to leave home and so much more.
She sent me in for an ultrasound and a few blood tests but said I had all the signs of depression.
Depression was not on my play list. I had so much going for me at the time…a wonderful family, was the class coordinator for my daughter’s class, active in Bible Study, so to have my pause button suddenly pushed, I had a hard time with it. Looking back it was a pause that I guess I needed. I have always put others first in my life, trying to make everyone comfortable and happy. I forgot about myself, I forgot to put myself first…I am the one I needed to take care of. As women we are born nurturers, why do we forget to nurture ourselves? I have come a long way in the last two years. The depression is not gone but it is not prominent in my life. I am now able to manage it without medication because I know the signs. Every once in awhile the anxiety will creep back in to my daily life, it reminds me that I am still in the process of learning on how to not let “everything” get to me. Letting everything get to me is my trigger.
I have learned that I need to push my pause button frequently…to take the time for me! I now make sure I get out of the house, have lunch with the girls, nights out with my best friend, date night…the list goes on! Learn from my pause in life and take the time for YOU!!
soooooo true. Thank you for the reminder.
Depression is a tough battle. Glad you’ve learned to manage the signs. Running is my medication 🙂
thank you for such an inspiring post.
This is a beautiful post! So many people suffer from depression, (many in my own family), and they often feel alone, and bad about it! I love this post and your approach…I plan to pass this on to a few of my sisters! Thanks! =)
Inspiring post and very true! When I get depressed I go for a walk looking at the greenery around or just glare out of the window and watch green.
Wonderful, beautiful post. Being able to push a pause button is so necessary sometimes. Taking that pause for yourself is crucial. (btw…I had a tape player, too!)
What a wonderful post! I am always looking to the future, I really need to use that pause button and savor the present moments!!! Thanks for sharing!
I love Tammy! Thanks for sharing this.
I just wanna give her a big hug. Depression is a tough battle to fight sometimes.
You make a good point. Taking care of oneself is so important. But as mothers we’re often the last person we pay any nurturing attention to.
inspiring and important post.
Hope everything changes for good soon 🙂
Thank you for sharing this and dropping by my blog.
Hi, Tammy! Thanks for sharing so openly about your struggle with depression. I like the way you tied in the image of a tape recorder with our wellness. It’s so hard to hit the Pause button for ourselves before someone or something hits it for us! I’ve watched my mom go through that cycle–not with depression, but with physical exhaustion/illness. She’ll push and push until finally she collapses, and really, all along she should have been taking breaks. The crazy thing is that even though I’ve watched her do that, I don’t always learn from her example so that I don’t repeat that cycle!
I look forward to checking out your blog! 🙂
Your readers have been so gracious today. Thanks for letting me share my pause moment! 🙂 Love ya girl!
Found you through TRDC and just wanted to commend this post. Tammy describes depression so well here. When I was 25, I was diagnosed with a low-grade chronic form of depression called dysthymia. I was in the depths of a major depressive episode and required medication to get out of it. It really was like pushing a pause button since I lost the interest and ability to lead any semblance of a normal life. The depression completely changed my personality, and I’ve never quite gone back to the person I was before my diagnosis. But I did learn to manage it, eventually without medication, and was able to un-pause my life and move forward.But last year – 10 years later – I was forced to push the pause button again when I was diagnosed with PPD nearly seven months after the birth of my first child.
Suffering from depression really is like having someone push a pause button on your life. Excellent analogy.
thank you for the reminder…
i too need to pause for me at times