Complacent With Depressions?

A thought  occurred to  me today; Is it  possible to be comfortable in  depression/emotional pain because of it’s familiarity? Sounds  crazy  right? For me  I’ve  experienced  depression since  about  the  6th  grade,it’s something that I’ve always dealt with. So many of   my immediate  family members have   also experienced  depression  as well so I  just accepted it as something that ran in the  family. But I believe that God has  brought this  to my attention  because  I’ve  never  given  a lot of  thought  to  being  free from  depression I’ve adjusted to   putting a bandaid on the my issues instead of being free.

Is this  a form of  complacency?

Complacency is  apart of the  the issue but  it is also  fear.  Fear of  trying to  move  forward from depression because  we are worried that somehow   if something in life  knocks us down  we’ll  be back to where we started. This is an attitude that  says  why try, why  risk  disappointment?  The truth is  that  just because  something   has  been  one way for  so long  it doesn’t  mean that we  should  just accept it as our lot in  life.  God  has   infinite power.  infinite  wisdom, resources and love that He is  more than  willing to fill us  with so  why  stay in one place because of  familiarity?

 Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Psalm 55:22 (NASB)

Now  please don’t misunderstand me,  I’m not  insinuating  that  everyone’s  depression is the same, that we  choose to be depressed , that we  don’t need counseling  or  even  medical care.   No, what I am  saying  is that we  don’t  have to  be afraid to seek  God’s  help and guidance to  be FREE from  the  things that have keep us in emotional bondage.  We should   pray with  broader  expectations of God and what  He can do in our lives.  Taking  steps to move away from what we’ve always  known  and  trusting that  we  can  be healed even when ” life happens ”  doesn’t mean  we  have to  forfeit  the works that God has done when  hard times arise but  it means  that we  can  draw from those experiences  and thrive because we  know the  Lord is with us!

Love,Lesli

How I am Battling Anxiety (triggers)

In  keeping with my  desire to be more transparent  with this blog as oppose to just doling  out devotional/advice  I want to share a bit of current and past  experience with  anxiety attacks.  So let’s start  from the beginning.

I remember the  first time that I experience  an anxiety  attack. I was   making my  way back to  Atlanta  after my  grandmother’s funeral and   out  of  nowhere I felt a intense  sense of  panic /anxiety.   In my  case  my anxiety attacks also  affect me  physically  and can sometimes be uncomfortable or  a bit  painful.  So experiencing this for the first time where my muscles were  tensing up and my breathing was labored coupled with  the panic,  to say the least it  freaked me out.  We ended up  pulling  over to a  Wendy’s and I got out the car  walked  to  the restroom to  calm myself down. At that  point  I knew what it was to be nervous or  depressed but  a  full blown anxiety attack was a whole new ball game.

In 2007 I lost my  father and  aunt to cancer, my  grandfather passed suddenly and  several other family passed on as well.  Now  tack on to that  the stress of moving to a different city and  it was just  A LOT!  It was  one of the hardest  years of  my life.

Now  fast forward to where I am currently  in my life at this point with being unemployed, my  mom being  diagnosed with breast cancer and everything that  comes along with that,  I’ve been feeling  overwhelmed.The good news is  I’ve experienced something similar  and  I’ve learned over the years what to do when I am experiencing an  anxiety attack and  how  to   reduce the frequency of  them happening and I  want to share a few tips with you.

So how do I push through my  Anxiety Attacks?….

1.  Prayer: This is my  first and BEST line of  defense.  Find a space that is  quiet, do whatever you have to do to get there and  spend some time  with God.  If you need to  go to a  restroom, another room in your  house or even sit in your  car  take that time to  pour your heart out to  the Lord.
2. Exercise: This has  been  one  of THE  key things that has  reduced the frequency of  my  anxiety attacks. You can  google the  specifics of why working out  regularly  helps.  For   me  it has  been an tremendous  tool in  battling anxiety attacks because working out energizes me and elevates my  mood.
3. Breathe: While you’re experiencing an attack breath in deeply through your nose and out slowly through your mouth.  For me this  helps  me  refocus  and push through some of the physical effects of  anxiety attacks that I experience
4. Diet:  Try to steer  clear of  overindulging in a lot of  processed and  fatty  foods. The food  practices these days  aren’t the  best   so it  is  better overall  that your diet is  cleaner and  filled with whole foods that  build your body up
5. Talk about it: Find someone who  you feel comfortable with and  tell them what you are going through. The last thing you need to do is  isolate yourself and  hold all of  your anxiety  inside.
6. Caffeine: Yes caffeine, It winds you up and can trigger anxiety so avoid sodas with caffeine and switch to decaf coffee; Yes decaf you’ll be fine. If you are looking for  boost in the morning to take the place of the jolt of  caffeine  try swapping it for  a green smoothie.

Lastly  remember that you are not alone  and you WILL get through this.  God  knows where you are  and is  eager to get you through this  so  lean on Him and He  will  give you all the  tools you need to  win this  battle. Don’t ever  give up our breakthrough is  on the  way so keep fighting!

Love, Lesli