You like it when life is full of possibilities and everything seems to going your way. For most of you, that probably describes your life most of the time. But there are times when out-and-out despair overwhelms you and you can barely function. For others, this is your attitude much of the time. The attitude of depression is a disease that effects many, if not all, people at one time or the other.
Depression is a growing ailment of the USA and it is on the increase, not on the decline. With all the deadlines you have to meet and all the expectations you place on yourself, it is no wonder that depression is so predominant in society today. Paul W. Power explains it this way, “Dr. Bertrand Brown, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said that depression is the number one problem in this country today. Depression is the common cold of psychological disorders. Almost everyone experiences it at one time.” When depression hits, you feel like blocking out the world and crawling into a ball and bathing in self-pity.
That is the problem that you face, probably more often than you would like. How do you overcome that beast of an attitude when it strikes? Booker T. Washington was on the right track when he said, “I think that I have learned that the best way to lift one’s self up is to help someone.” That is good sound advice. When you begin to feel low emotionally or even depressed, go out and help someone else. The Holy Bible gives similar instruction: “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). The remedy to depression is both validated by good sound council and by the Scriptures.
You cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control your response to what happens to you. So when the giant of despair hits and depression begins to set in, stop and see whom you can help and then help them. You may just find that life is full of more positive possibilities than you thought!!
