Let’s get real!

I made a very big commitment to myself when I decided to start this blog.  I was going to quit showing “the Facebook” life and start being real in every area of my life.  I will be honest this scares the crap out of me.  When you have been in sales as long as I have you learn how to be what people expect you to be.  I try as hard as I possibly can to not fall into this trap but I find myself doing it all the time. 

On the surface my life looks pretty dang good and if I am honest and don’t whine, it really is!  However there are certain aspects of my life that are hard to deal with and I am hoping that my advice/way of dealing with them, can help you deal with them as well.

****DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and I am not saying nor claiming that this is the best way to deal with these situations or that my way will work for you, so please do not take this as such.  What I am speaking about here can be dangerous at certain levels and does not need to be taken lightly.****

For about the last 2 – 3 years I have been dealing with depression.  (I am not going to rate my depression as severe or minor due to the fact that I don’t know your level of depression and I am not going to try and make a comparison) This has been one of the hardest things I have ever dealt with in my life.  Those that know me, know how much of a control freak I am, and with depression you do not control anything except for the steps that you take to defeat it. I have dealt with it by quitting my previous job because I thought that was what was causing it, which it was. I have dealt with it by seeing a counselor so I could talk about it, and although this may help some it did not help me. I have dealt with it with medication, which did help me get through an extremely bad part of it but long term was not my solution. So my next step is the one that I should have taken a long time ago, but have just been doing for the last couple of months, and that is to turn it over to God and share what he is doing with me.

First I will start with what do I mean by this. Well, the simple sarcastic answer is, exactly what I said, I turned it over to God and am letting him handle it.  But that would not make for a very good read or would it give those feeling helpless many steps to follow.  So, this is what I mean:

• I am setting aside time every day to spend with God: prayer and reading
  • I can tell you from experience the days I fail at this step are the days that I struggle.  It really is amazing to me when I see myself struggling that I can immediately realize that I have skipped this for a day or so.

• I am leaving time to study and discuss God’s word with my family
  • I believe that God blesses those that raise their family to respect and glorify him.  It was hard to start but is amazing now.  We read 3 chapters of the Bible every night, underline what sticks out to us or makes an impact on us, discuss it, and then pray over it. This sometimes seems as a burden but I assure you it is one of my favorite parts of the day and is becoming the most valuable time we spend as a family.

• I am leaving space for God to do what he wants in my life.
  • This is hard for me because I am a planner but there are many times that we let ourselves get so busy and preoccupied with life that we do not allow God to add anything to our calendars or life.  So I have been intentional with as I plan stuff trying to leave time for God.  This may end up being a time for nothing as that may be what God feels you need but it may also be an opportunity for me to serve, do something I would never have done when I was busy, or just spend some down time resting and being thankful for all the blessings God has provided for me.  Either way it is His time not mine.

• I am trying to learn how to say no.
  • This one goes along with the one above very closely.  God does not want you to be a part of everything just to say you are a part of everything.  He also does not want you a part of nothing.  He wants you a part of somethings where your gifts can be used to spread His message in the most effective manner.  This is hard for me cause as a close friend tells me I want to do everything and I want to do it as BIG as possible.  I am coming to terms with the less is more mentality but it is hard!

• The last and hardest step for me is I am praying everyday for contentment!
  • I am not a keep up with the Jones’ person but I am an improve everyday person. This is a dangerous personality because you are always looking how to make your situation better; well, sometimes God is saying your situation is pretty dang good right where it is.  I have to get used to this and it is something that the only way I will be content with is through God’s power, so everyday I have to ask him for this.

Now as I mentioned this is not a DIY checklist and I am not saying this is the way to a cure for depression but it is working pretty good for me and I hope it can add some hope for those of you out there suffering.  There is relief you just have to not give up on finding it.

I am going to be expanding on this more in later blogs but as I said this is the way I am handling it and I will continue with how it is going at a later date.  So, until next time! Thank you