“Life sucks & then you die.” - Anonymous.
Banks are collapsing, our economy is tumbling, we have salmonella & e. coli outbreaks, unemployment is rising, our military is waging two wars in two countries, wages are stifled, Mother Nature has tuberculosis and skin cancer, working class folks are losing their homes, and the government apes still jump to bail out Wall Street before they offer any relief to those of us on main street.
It’s enough to make even the most daring of hero want to crawl into the bottom of a cheap bottle of something (anything) alcoholic and drown our sorrows and woes until our minds perceive nothing but the warm comfort of absolute blackness.
But what good does that do? Letting the anchors of extreme emotional gravity drag us down only serves to mitigate the friction of those who attempt to walk over us. Indeed, our prone and prostrate surrender only makes it easier for these swine giants to stride right by, but I prefer to make them work for it! If they are going to get past me, they are going to have to master a few obstacles and overcome some entanglements. Call it wild ambition, a–holetry, or extreme stubbornness. No one gets past me unless they deserve it or outsmart the system. Either way, they earned it.
But no one is immune to the sludge of depression. Art has been a magnificent tool for me when battling hopelessness but sometimes it’s just not enough. Sometimes, I need extra measures. So, if I find myself getting a visit from Lady Depression and her strange little neurotic cat, Anxiety, I don’t join them on the couch, or on the bed, beneath the blankets, in the dark, weeping, binging and purging, or lying motionless in a puddle of tears. No, no, dear friends! I take that parasitic hag to the gym and beat the ever-living-s–t out of her. I run, lift, do cardio, I hit the heavy bag — anything to exhaust the thorn she placed in my side and force her back into oblivion. I recommend this as a first measure if creativity fails you.
But if you prefer a softer, sweeter method, take a walk — a loooong walk. Take photos of old signs, interesting mailboxes, of flowers, of random people doing random things. Not a photographer? Then draw! Take a pencil and pad and sketch tree roots, an old building, people, animals, landscapes, whatever — but walk! Get out of the house, get out of your comfort zone — and walk. Feed your spirit something new to enjoy. It may do nothing but give you a break from your own mind, but it could also give you an idea or an epiphany that will break those chains and free to you conspire a solution.
And if none of that works, and you still feel like there is no hope, no way out - then quit your job, pack your s–t, and join UNICEF, or The Red Cross, or the Peace Corps, and volunteer to go to some nation where children are dying of starvation and disease. Take whatever bit of your shining spirit that still exists (in you) and pour it into their eyes. They need it, and so do you.
Never surrender.
Never relent.
