End of my teather

i genuinely wish to help you, and i hope what i say will not sound outlandish or strange, i say it because i so strongly believe in it that it surpasses my fear of online scrutiny from others.

i read through many forums on depression, and i enjoy seeing the changes people while i try to help as much as possible. let me give it to you in straightforward terms.

Humans have been roaming the earth for thousands of millennia, roughly 6 thousand thousand years since divergence from primate-like ancient ancestors. for the duration of that enormous amount of time, humans became extremely adept at survival. one of the main modes of transportation and survival that we used to obtain food and achieve safety was through long distance travel. we did not have claws nor powerful jaws, nor were we quick. but we were able to lope about at a brisk pace for prolonged periods of time. we have such a vast amount of adaptations reflecting this theory that it would be rather foolish to not accept it. we sweat, lost our body hair (to more efficiently cool ourselves through sweating), move about bi-pedally, and so much more, so that we could efficiently and effectively hunt four legged animals that after several hours of galloping, could not cool down, and would overheat and die. we had no tools nor weapons, only our hands and teeth, and not until around 1.8 MYA were even the first stone tools aka rocks, used to kill anything, the bow was not invented until 40,000 years ago. humans ran, and they ran, and they ran, and they ran some more.

Fast forward to modern day, where we sit in offices all day and at most get a few hours of exercise a week, can you see where im heading with this? the clear picture is this: humans are good at some things, and designed for them, and when you depart from that which we have evolved to do for millions of years, you get problems. there are so many details and things you may not understand from what i present, but understand this: You need to exercise, and by exercise, i mean run. and you need to run correctly, the way our human ancestors did it, with little to no shoes whatsoever. if you do this, i can guarantee you that your depression will go away. your brain releases a marvelous concoction of chemicals that are an adaptive trait humans evolved to help them cope with the long and painful bouts of exercise. you may have heard of them, they are called endorphins. they are chemically identical with opiates, IE: heroin, morphine, euphoria-inducing drugs. the drugs mentioned above are found in nature from the poppy plant, but are naturally produced in your brain to alleive depression, pain, hunger, anxiety, sadness, and have such a profound impact on the psyche that you may wonder why you've never tried this before! the "runners high", is what you get, the bath of well-being inducing chemicals that bathe your brain every time you exercise for prolonged periods of time(an hour or so at least). people who run regularly and eat normal food (food that humans were eating for the last several million years) are much happier and healthier and upbeat and NEVER, NEVER have i met a person who runs long distance regularly and adheres to this lifestyle who has depression. it just doesnt happen, because they stick to what they are designed to do. you dont buy a car and let it sit in your garage so that you can play with its lights, or open its doors, or inflate and deflate its tires, you buy it so that you can drive it.

i want you to go and buy a pair of minimalist shoes, that allow your foot to function the way its evolved to function, not thick heeled shoes that cause injuries. your feet are not born weak or broken, they are an evolutionary marvel that da vinci himself wondered at in awe. large shoe companies make lots of money on the false idea that your foot is broken and you need man made devices that have been invented barely 30 years ago for them to work correctly.

i want you to go out and jog an easy mile. then wait a few days. when youre not sore, go jog another, then after a week go jog a mile and a half. EASE INTO IT! your feet are weak and soft from wearing shoes your whole life.it will take several months. before long, you will be running like homo erectus, and loving life.

do it for yourself, do it for your life.

-will

Thanks for your input. Unfortunately, I've dislocated my left knee seven times. I've diverged too far from those ancient humans! I wasn't designed to run, it's very bad for me.

But I do sit-ups every morning. Five hundred, no matter how depressed I am. Because I know it helps. And that's when I get most down... when I know I'm doing all the right things to fight the depression, but it still drags me down. It's just so hard to fight it when the short days of winter are set in. I'm sat here, early in the morning, under a SAD lamp, about to do my sit-ups, about to get ready for work, after doing my hobby for a half hour (writing). And I will write for two hours tonight, as I do every night.

I also try my best to keep contact with friends and family. Despite it being difficult.

I very much appreciate your advice, though, I'm well versed in philosophy, history, biology etc, and your words are true. I've tried running. It hurts.

N.

Sorry about your feelings you have at the moment.

Winter is a difficult time for a depression sufferers, SAD lamp is perfect, you are exercising, great, hobby is a good mood elevator too. You will come out of it, it is just not going to happen immediately.

Are you on the right medication? Have you had your thyroid tested? Do you need more vitamin B?

I have been on anti-depressants for seven years. I do not watch news, prefer to read about things instead. I have read a lot about thought forming process, concentrated on happy TV programms, tried my best to stop thinking about myself. It is so characteristic to that illness that it always brings our thoughts to ourselves. I am aware of this and consciously move away from "me" to "others". EFT helps me too when I have a problem that I cannot deal with emotionally on the same day. You can practice EFT yourself. Once you know what to do! The heavy nebulous cloud will move with shame..

I wish you lots of inner strenght but not to fight the depression but to carry on mindfully!