Depression: My personal battle

29/04/2025

Chemo complete
Heading home
Thanks for the visit Wendy Woods

16/02/2025

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/webcontent/overthinking-and-intrusive-thoughts---6-phrases-to-get-unstuck-from-overthinking-and-uncertainty/vi-AA1xOotR?vid=8Ws8_Y_PQ8E&provider=yt&ocid=socialshare

Canadian snowbird retirees are being forced to sell their Florida homes amid skyrocketing insurance costs, plunging loonie — is this temporary or long-term exodus from the Sunshine State?

16/02/2025

Interesting read

5 tips from mental health experts to be more present and less self-critical.

22/11/2024

As many of you know, I like to share my experience of living with mental illness with people. I find it liberating sharing who I am, so I can live a more authentic life. After many years of feeling shame and embarrassment about my depression , out of fear of what people would think I realized that talking and writing about my experiences was freeing. One veil or mask removed. I no longer hide or feel shame about my depression.
OK. Now for something a little bit different. At the beginning of this week it was confirmed that I have a mass growing in my bladder, when I went for my cystoscopy. It was not a complete surprise as I have been seeing blood, on and off in my urine for numerous months. I do not have a date for the surgery yet, but have done my preop admission with the nurse. I am now waiting for my CT scan and am going for blood tests tomorrow. After the initial shock of the impending condition I am feeling hopeful and confident that I am in very capable hands at the UHN and TGH. So at present I am in a holding pattern and will use the time to decompress and spend time relaxing and deep breathing. That is all for now. Peace and Love. I will keep you all posted

17/10/2024

In this post, I'll share the steps I took that helped me reset my life and start over. These steps drastically improved my life and made the change less overwhelming and scary. I hope they help you too!

How To Reset Your Life

Take time to reflect on your life. Accept that there are areas you want to change. Forgive others and yourself. Take responsibility for your actions. Envision the life you want.
Make a plan. Write down clear, specific goals. Write down your "why" for each goal to stay motivated.
Break your goals into smaller, manageable steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Change your routine. Start small by changing one routine at a time. This will make it easier to stick to.
Let go of habits that are dragging you down. Understand why you had those habits first. Be kind to yourself in the process.
Practice gratitude daily. Appreciate the good things happening in your life, big and small. It will help you stay positive.
Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Bottling up emotions is harmful. Vent, cry, or scream if you need to. Healing requires feeling.
Don't be afraid to reach out for support. The people who love you will never see you as a burden. Asking for help is a sign of strength.
Give yourself grace. Don't constantly criticize yourself. Be kind, compassionate, and understanding with yourself.
Try something new. Step outside your comfort zone. Learn new skills. Explore things life has to offer. Growth requires change.
Make self-care a priority. Taking care of yourself is not selfish. It's necessary to function well. Don't neglect your needs.
Set healthy boundaries. Say no to things that cause you stress. Boundaries are a sign of self-respect and self-love.
Fall in love with yourself again. Self-love is a journey. Choose to love yourself every day, even on hard days.
It's okay to take small steps. Huge leaps can be overwhelming. Small, consistent steps lead to big changes over time.
Remember, everyone's journey is different. The important things are your determination to ge and the effort you put in every day to improve your life. You have the power to change. Believe in yourself and take the first step.

16/10/2024

Wednesday, October 16th.
Full day with the dogs. My day started at 630 this morning. 5 glasses of water with Lemon this morning. Sat in front of my SAD lamp for 30 minutes. 15 minute meditation. Picked up the dogs this morning. Back home at 10 for play. Dogs had great energy. As the days get colder, the dogs will be more active. They will also have a better appetite.
Had Greek yogurt with macadamia and walnuts, frozen blueberries and some granola, half a banana, an apple. Took an afternoon nature walk. 20 minutes at Earl Bales park. My mood is improving.
Here is an observation I recently noticed. As I have mentioned, I have been meditating daily for close to a year. Nothing too extreme. Usually 10 to 15 minutes in the morning. This discipline has allowed me to notice my mood changes relatively quickly. This past week I was feeling off. I know when I am off, when I start comparing myself to others and think poorly of myself. I believe my ability to catch the mood shift quickly allows me to react quickly. This is a good thing. I think in the past, my mood shift was not consciously attended to. So I would fall into a poor pattern of behaviour. I would not eat properly and slowly my depression would get worse.

Last evening at the meditation class, the instructor explained life is best explained by the BCD rule.
B is for being born
D is for death.
He asked the group what we thought c stood for. I said compassion. Wrong. The C stands for choice.
We are born, We live a life making choices on how to live and then we die. Making the right choices is our job. Food for thought