Depression Can Happen

Do you ever feel like you are just wandering through life?  Do you feel like you have no purpose or path to follow down?  Many times we can find ourselves in this situation where you may feel that you have lost your way.  When we encounter this feeling it can be extremely difficult to get yourself out of it, not only can it be damaging to you but it can damage those around you.  Think about it for a second, when you are lost, do you have any motivation to find yourself again?  Do you sink further down and just want to fade away?  How hopeless do you feel...  Do you think that you will never find your way again?  Sometimes we seem to be in this state of perpetual sadness but you don't have to remain there forever.  The place where you are right now is not the place where you will end up.  Yes right now you may be lost in whatever situation you face, but you will eventually find your way.  Stop and think about how you ended up with that lost feeling.  Was there a specific time when

It is much easier to do nothing than to try.  Many times we sit in complacency and wonder why our circumstance has not changed.  We wait for that moment when something good will happen that could snap you out of whatever you are going through.  However that moment may never materialize if you dont move from where you are.  Change is a difficult thing to experience but sometimes it is exactly what is needed to over the obstacle that you face in your day to day life.  We think that waiting on a change is the best strategy but in all actuality moving towards a change can be the best solution.  If you say to yourself that today is the day that I am going to do something about my future than you will begin to see the change within yourself.  Why let the chains of nothing stop you from becoming free and happy?  Why let the burdens of today dampen your tomorrow?  We cannot predict the future, we cannot see what is going to happen to us from day to day.  Your depression is never going to get

How many times have you felt that your head was down because you yourself was down?  Many times we tend to shift our eyes to the ground and lower our heads because we are down and out.  That behavior is self-defeating due to the fact that once you lower your eyes and your head for that instance, you have admitted defeat.  What does that do to us? Well it puts us in a cycle for self-defeat to keep occurring.  We then learn that behavior and start to put it towards our everyday life.  Where you felt successful before, do you know feel that you are no longer a success?  Do you feel that you are not good enough or that people look down upon you?  I know this is going to sound silly but we have to start speaking the truth about ourselves, literally say the words out loud.  When you say to yourself that you are a success, it begins the rewiring process and you can then begin to change the way you think for the better.  Many times I get down on myself for never feeling like I am good enough.

Do you think that when people hear that you have depression, anxiety or both, that they think you are weak?  Many times I have hid the fact that I have these issues from people because I do not want them to see me in a different light.  I tend to hide the fact that I struggle with these issues, I feel as if people will look down upon me and think that I should just be able to snap out of it.  How many times have we heard that one???  Just snap out of it *eye roll*.  If it were that easy then I wouldn't be typing this today.  People who don't have these burdens don't understand what it is like on a daily basis.  Everyday can be a battle to keep your head up and to keep moving forward.  We may face the challenges of the day different from someone who does not suffer.  I want you to realize that just because you may have things in your life that will get you down or hold you back, that does not mean that you are weak.  In fact it means the opposite, it means that you have bee

So recently I have been apart of a new gym experience.  I was fortunate enough to have some buddies cover a six week trial period for me to see if I will like it.  I am used to going to a regular gym...  Ah who am I kidding...  I wasn't going to the gym.  Ice cream and other amazing food items won for quite some time.  With this new experience comes getting up before the sun even thinks about rising and working out so hard that I got sick twice on the first day, but I finished the workout (yay me...).  This gym is like a cross-fit type gym, for those of you who are not aware of what cross fit is I will explain: You get to flip tires and swing ropes and what not...  Very very simple explanation if you will.  All of this to tell you that I hate myself every time I do it.  I get so anxious walking into that gym in front of 60 other people and workout.  I feel so out of place that it is painful.  I feel like the other people are judging me for being out of shape and or not able to do

You deserve more.  I say this to get you thinking, thinking about what you would do with more.  It could be more time, money, hope, whatever positive thing you like.  How would your mindset be different if you had more?  Would you find yourself happier and more likely to have good days as opposed to bad ones?  Many times we wish for certain outcomes in life that never materialize.  But that does not mean that you don't deserve more than what you have now.  Let's look at more time for instance, if you were told that you had less than six months to live, you would beg for more time on this earth.  You might regret all of the things that you never did while you still had plenty of life to live.  How would your outlook on this world be different?  Would you look at the world in a different light knowing that you had a certain amount of time left to fulfill what you desire?  Why wait for that moment in time?  Why wait for your last moments to begin to really live and enjoy life.  W

"We are all born to broken people on their most honest day of living" - Listener, Wooden Heart.  Do you ever think that some people have it all together and that their life is perfect?  Well you are wrong, we are all fighting some sort of battle that only we know.  Many days that battle that we face can consume us and take over our though pattern, but that is where we lose.  We lose who we are and who we want to become when we let ourselves get down.  We miss out on the opportunities that life has presented us with.  We at many times tend to focus on the negative, but in reality we are surrounded by so much of the positive.  We tend to overlook the positive and act like it does not exist, but what if you took notice of the positive that surrounds you?  What if you turned that negative thought and transformed it to one of a more positive manner.  What if I told you that you could essentially rewire your thought pattern?  Sounds crazy right?  Well there is an actual science ca

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- When we experience something that leaves a lasting impression on our lives.  We then relive that event over a period of time and it can either cause us to disconnect or become angry.  Many times we lash out at loved ones without even thinking.  However the emotion that many experience is fear.  Anger is ultimately fear that has not been resolved.  We fear certain situations and or have certain reactions when we are fearful and that drives anger from us.  Many people assumes that if you speak to someone such as a therapist that you are weak.  But in all actuality it is the exact opposite, you are seen as a strong individual because you wish to make yourself better.  There used to be a time in my life where I had a job that I did not enjoy (like many of us), however there were lasting effects of that job that prevented me from being happy.  I could not drive past the facility on the weekends because I did not want to be reminded that work loomed some fe

What does this title say to you?  Anything?  If your answer was nothing then that is OK and I expected that.  40 million to 1 is the statistic that you will be born.  YOU yourself being born...  40 million to 1...  Just let that sink in for a second.  Now take a look at where you are and how you feel, do you feel like you are something special?  If not then just look at that number again.  You are unique and you are special.  You made it, you made it to the point where you were born.  As you took your first breath you were already a winner.  You won the race to get here, now what have you done with it so far?  If you are looking around and thinking to yourself that you are not worth that odd then please hear me when I say that you are.  You are worth more than 40 million to 1, you are worth more than you could ever imagine.  I know that things may seem as if they are coming against you and you feel less than what you are but please hear me when I say 40 million to 1 is a miracle.  You

Here we go....  Hang onto your seats...  What is pain and resentment?  What does that look like to you?  Often times we take that hurt that harmed us and we carry it around with us for a very long time.  I find myself carrying the things of the past that I cannot go back and fix.  I find that I let those past events shape my future, the way that I treat my relationships and the way that I treat my kids.  I often times swore to myself that I would not treat people the way that I had been treated but here I was doing those same things to them.  It was a cycle that I thought I could break on my own and that I thought I was strong enough to fight against that by myself.  I was wrong...  Dead wrong.  Often times we struggle with those pains that we felt so long ago and we carry that with us and it weighs us down.  The burden can become so heavy that we allow it to steal the life from us.  We allow that resentment for whatever situation to become a crutch that we stand on.  We let that pain

So lately I have been listening to a lot of one particular band and it has helped me to find some inspiration.  August Burns Red, they are a christian band that are not your typical style of music, but hey it works for me.  The lead vocalist has recently written a daily devotional that I picked up and have started to read.  It has really opened my eyes up to the daily struggles that people face.  It helps me to see that I am not alone in this fight.  Matter of fact, they are coming to my local area in September of this year and I am fighting back the anxiety of going and being in a big group of individuals that I do not know, but I have decided that I am going to that show and will have him sign my copy of that book if given the chance.  So I have titled this post as such because I feel that it is important for everyone to understand that greatness lies inside of all of us.  I know that at times we may feel small and feel as if we cannot accomplish much but please understand that you

Harsh title for this morning...  But it is true, don't become something that you hate.  Many times in life we find ourselves walking through and going through the motions just trying to stay afloat.  We do just enough to make sure that we can get through the day and make it to the next, never really giving it our best effort.  How many times have you walked by someone and wondered what their life must be like?  Have you put yourself where they are and have you found yourself happier for a short instance?  Have you ever sat and compared your life to that of another individuals and thought about how happy they are?  Do you take what you have for granted?  Do you see your life as not worth what someone else's is?  We make these comparisons all the time really, if you see a celebrity on TV and or in a movie, we often times wonder what it must be like to have what they do.  The big house, the nice cars, the money...  We begin to doubt just exactly it is that we have, we take for gr

When was the last time you had the belief that you could do whatever you set your mind too?  When was the last time that you had hope built up inside of you that allowed you to move past those mountains that stand in your way?  I believe in you, I believe that you have a purpose for this life.  I know at times it may seem as if we do not, but let me assure you,  you do.  Many times we get down on ourselves and deplete our self worth, we diminish what we have worked so hard to attain.  We let go of the hope and confidence that we may have built up.  Once it is gone, it is extremely hard to regain.  But then again, I'm not telling you anything new.  But what I am going to tell you is that you are awesome.  You may not feel awesome, but you are.  You are a unique masterpiece that has been placed on this planet for a reason.  You may not be able to see that reason yet and you may even wonder if that reason will ever become clear, but it will in due time.  You have the strength to shin

Most of the time I write these, I am just staring at the screen as if the words will just appear.  A lot of times I feel like I am just going to repeat myself and not make any sense with what I am trying to get across.  However here we are, with words on a screen that can help provide a little bit of hope.  When I was, we took these quizzes in school that had characterized what type of job you were going to have when you grew up.  I know that they are simply just for fun and at that age I think we all wanted to be several things.  But there was an answer one time that I had never seen before and it just so happened that I got it (yay me! *Sarcasm).  The answer on the quiz said that I was going to either be a pilot or a bus driver.  I was cool with either one really, I thought it was awesome that I got an answer that no one else had received before.  However when I shared my answer with everyone, they proceeded to laugh at me.  They teased me because a little piece of paper said that I

Mistake - An action or judgement that is misguided or wrong.  (Thanks Google) We have all made some mistakes in our lives, be it small or large mistakes, they have happened.  Sometimes we think back on those mistakes and wonder what we could have done differently to prevent them.  Or at times we wonder what our life would be like if we have never made those mistakes to begin with.  Some mistakes tend to stick with us longer than expected and or we wanted, but you do not have to let those mistakes of the past hold back your future.  I know that when people read that, they will scoff and think: "well I am still living with my mistake(s)".  And that is OK, but we do not have to let those mistakes define who you are today.  We often times get caught up in the details of something and worry about it for quite some time.  I know that I tend to dwell on things and feel as if I have just done something completely wrong.  Often times when I am in a social situation I will replay ev

How many times have you walked down the street in your city and have seen someone who looks like they have it all?  Have you passed by them and wonder how nice it must be to have what they do?  How many times have we taken for granted the times where we can walk down the street and hold someone's hand.  How many times have we gone to a park to let your kids play and or have fond memories of when you used to play.  Do you ever look at the world and wonder what is next?  I know that at times we scroll through Facebook and other forms of social media and see others who have the flashy cars and the big homes and pretty much everything they could ever want.  Sometimes, I sit there and wonder what it must be like to have all that I could ever want.  I dream of the big house that has 10 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms all with TVs in them.  I see all of the nice cars in the drive way and think about how nice that must be...  I think everyone has had that thought once or twice in their life, the

I have been thinking about this subject for a while now, a lot of times I feel like I am a burden to other individuals around me.  That they simply tolerate me and a lot of times I feel as if I do not have any friends at all.  I know that this may seem crazy to some of you, but I can't help the way that I feel.  Lately I have been feeling this way but it comes in waves.  I don't always feel like I am just an afterthought.  I don't know what the answer is to all of it either.  If I had 18 people around me wanting to hang out at once, I think my anxiety would climb as well....  Oh what a tricky mind we can have sometimes.  Sometimes it will not make sense, but don't ever discredit your feelings and think that they are dumb.  A lot of times we can't help the way that we feel, but if you stay in that mindset that will eventually cause you more harm than good.  Eventually you will start to believe the lie that you are not worth it.  Eventually you will see yourself as l

What does success look like to you?  Does it include a big house, money in the bank, fancy cars?  Sure that is what people generally associate with success, but what if I told you that you are already a success.  A success that you have overcome a lot of obstacles to get where you are now.  Now you might look around in your current situation and think that where you are is not a success, but it is.  You are not where you were and that within itself is something to hang your hat on.  Recently I had a pending post about being a burden to people, I had it ready to go to the world but I kept reading it and decided to delete it because I felt that it was just me being small (when I say small, I mean that I was feeling down and looking for sympathy).  The gist of the message was that I feel like a burden to those friends that I have around me, that I don't quite fit in with their conversations and that I am just being tolerated.  HOWEVER, I know that those feelings are just false.  But

When you open your eyes in the morning, what is the first thought that comes across your mind  (of course after why do I have to go to work today)?  Everyday that you open your eyes you are given a new chance to make a difference in this life.  Often times we take waking up for granted.  We just simply assume that you are going to wake up and continue on where you left off.  But what if you were not guaranteed tomorrow?  How would you live then?  How would you interact with other people?  How would your feelings change?  You are probably thinking at this point, "Oh great here comes the same speech over and over again"... Listen I know that you have heard this 1000 times over, but none of us are guaranteed our next breathe let alone waking up in the morning.  So my question to you is this:  Why can't we live like we are not guaranteed tomorrow everyday?  Why can't we push away our feelings of being down or anxious?  Why would we let anxiety and or depression steal our

"My past is so full of failures. But for every one negative, there are two more things to smile about. Its just hard to see them sometimes, Through the thick of it. And It's so easy to see a mistake when you're sick of making them. This whole life is a trial, make errors. And when life feels like a trial, push farther. Even if it means nothing in the end it's better to have tried. And when you take your last breath, you wont miss the goodbye you wanted to say sooner. I know you wanted to die, But you kept growing. So when life feels like a trial, It's a privilege granted to few. And even when life truly is a trial, You make the best of it. Each experience is unique. So far, you've been the only one to survive yours. So when life seems like a trial, Remember you outlived the worst." - Forget the Hate, Outlive I am just going to post this here, so that you can read this. I couldn't have said this any better. Sometimes we find strength in the least l

If there is one thing in life that I have learned thus far, that is the fact that you should never give up.  Many times throughout our lives we are faced with uncertainty, whether that uncertainty is how you are going to pay your bills, put food on the table, have a roof over your hear or even when you will feel like yourself again.  I feel like it is important for everyone who reads this to know that you should never give up.  Do not let your situation get the best of you.  Let's take that statement and branch off of it for a second- The best of you.  What does that mean?  For me, it means that you are giving everything that you have, you are going the extra mile to make sure that something gets done the way that it needs to.  So why would you let whatever situation that is coming against you take away the best of you?  That tough spot that you are going through may just want to make you lay down and let go, but that would mean that you miss out on the growth that will happen bec

If you have watched the news at any point you would have seen all of the negative images that this world has to offer.  At times it is hard to think about anything good in this world because we are constantly shown all of the worst case scenarios.  These days you have to fear going to the store because you do not know if someone may enter it and begin acting on their negative emotions or will attempt to do any other number of things to harm you or your family.  How are we expected to live in a world where you cannot feel safe going to school or to a movie?  These events have caused us to reshape the way that we live.  However if you look closely you will find some good still floating around amidst  all the bad.  It is still there waiting on you to have a spark, a spark that will set a whole new set of positive emotions into motion.  If we work on ourselves and start to show the world that yes, it is full of negative situations every day, but we will not back down from doing good, then

Most of the time I sit down to write these posts out, I really don't have a direction I want to go in.  For some of you I may be wasting your time, others may need to hear what is being said.  However this gives me a chance to help others in a positive way.  I know that not everyone will have the same fears and or anxiety that I may have, but if you can offer a glimmer of hope to someone that may be struggling with their own battles then why shy away from it?  Many times I sit here and wonder if this blog is even making a difference in other's lives.  When I share the post it appears to not do well, however you all cannot see what I can.  The fact of the matter is that this little blog that I started has reached individuals in 10 different countries.  Now some of you may look at me in a different light because of this blog, but I don't mind.  My hope with these writings is that you will grow to love who you are and don't worry so much about what everyone else thinks of

Have you ever thought about just rolling over and forgetting everything?  Or letting go and not fighting for what you believe in?  Over the weekend I was faced with several challenges that tested me and I failed most of them, people got under my skin and I let them win.  I let them get the best of me and realized that they stole my joy.  I let them win, I let them get the best of me.  And for a short time I was steaming, I was so mad and then after talking about it with my wife, I realized that I just gave up precious moments that I can't get back.  I gave up those minutes, I let them take that from me.  Have you ever been in a situation where you were on the defense and people just kept pounding on you?  We went to church this weekend and the topic was about those coming against you and how you are supposed to respond.  Well I failed, but that is ok, we are human and we are going to fail.  But it is what you do with that situation that will define who you are.  For instance, I no

There are many four letter words in any language, but love can be the strongest of them all.  I know that other four letter words can consist of CAN'T OR HATE...  But love can trump them all...  When you say that you love something have you ever really given it a thought as to what that word truly means?  When you love something, you are willing to go through any length for it.  For instance I love my wife and children, I love my parents and family and friends.  I would go to the ends of the earth for them, I would travel across the ocean and back in just a canoe for them if it meant that they would have everything that they needed.  I would jump through the biggest fire that the world has ever seen just to see them happy.  Now with that being said, I know that me traveling across the ocean in a canoe won't bring them happiness, really it would make them worry more but in using that as an example to show that love knows no bounds.  Love can get you through anything that you fa

Have you ever seen the Shaw Shank Redemption?  There is one scene that particularly stands out to me:  Red and Andy are sitting in the yard and they are talking to each other, Andy turns to look at Red and he says: "There is something inside, that they can't get to, that they can't touch", Red responds: "What are you talking about?", Andy: "HOPE".  WOWOWOWOWOOWOOWOWOWOWOWOW......  Look at that sentence right there, go ahead and read it again, I will sit back and wait...  Still here???  Ok, so with this you can see that hope is something that is instilled in us, your hope is your own.  YOU own that hope!  Take pride in that!  I know it seems as if I always as this question, but it is one of my passions.  What dreams do you have?  Where do you see yourself in five years?  Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?  Better yet, where do you see yourself tomorrow?  What did you want to accomplish today that you didn't?  Many times we get stopped

Picture this.....  You carry around a back pack all day, in that back pack you have items in it.  They can really be whatever you wish they are really, but for this post we are going to use bricks.  So each time that someone has a negative comment or does something to hurt you emotionally, you add a brick to that back pack.  Over time that back pack will become heavy and cumbersome, it acts as an anchor that holds you down in the same position that you are in.  The more negative circumstances that we go through the more we add to that back pack, some of us may have a back pack and then a duffel bag full of bricks that we carry around.  We struggle to lift and carry that back pack with us each day, it becomes a part of us that we feel we have to hold onto.  An example of my own experience with this is that I used to work a job where I would get yelled at all day by customers and other employees, over time I began to think that maybe I was the problem and I began adding several bricks t

Have you ever seen or have been a part of putting marks on your wall to show your growth as a kid?  Do you remember the excitement you received when you saw just how much you were growing?  After a while, you quit marking the wall because you reached a certain point where you either stopped growing or you lost interest in the subject, however those marks remain on the wall.  Those marks on the wall represent a time in your life where you were growing and you were learning.  What has changed for you now to the point where you may have quit growing?  I know for myself it is my circumstances that have blocked me in the past, but as of now I am working on moving past what I can see in the present and have learned to look forward to the future.  That is part of my growth with this journey we call life.  This in my opinion is one of the most difficult processes we can learn.  It is easy to get complacent in life and just settle where you are, but you are meant for much more in this life.  Y

Many days I feel like an outsider when I am around most people.  I know that the people who know me will say that that statement is not true, but I hide it well.  As most people with a depression and or anxiety disorder often do, we become good at perceiving that everything is fine, when it could not be.  When I was in high school, I lived near a concert venue that would bring in all of my favorite bands, I even bought a ticket one time and my friend and I drove the 45 minutes to get there and I saw the line and I immediately started to panic to myself.  I simply could not do it, I could not go into the concert venue because of the crowd.  I looked at my friend and informed him that I couldn't go in, that I didn't want to see the show.  He did not know why I said what I said, but I do believe that he understood.  Many of you would read this and think, "why would you buy a ticket then?"  Well the answer to that is simple, you have to start somewhere.  You have to take