Three Whole Months

I've been depression free for three whole months.

THREE WHOLE MONTHS!

I can't remember the last time I went this long without a depressive episode.  I was tempted to say that I've almost forgotten what a depressive day feels like.  But I haven't forgotten.  I doubt that I'll ever forget.  I totally remember.  I have an excellent memory.  But even remembering doesn't bring on the depression.

I scoured the internet for the perfect beautiful sunshiny blue sky picture to represent my current state of positive mental health.  I decided to go with the beach this time.  Just sounds so nice, doesn't it?

Things have been crazy busy at work.  I'm the data call queen.  I manage one database and have access to a few more.  When someone, anyone really, wants answers to questions, they call on me.  I call on the data.  Well, there have been A LOT of questions lately.

And I provide answers.  And then there are inevitably more questions.  It never ends really.  So I've been busy.

But next week, I'm taking a vacation.  Mostly I'm going to sleep in and walk and read.  But I'm also planning to be out of town for a couple of days.  Nothing amazing.  Just time off.  I think I've earned it.  And I'm gonna enjoy it.

Lord, I'm looking forward to yet another month of depression-free bliss.  Thank You in advance for the gift!

New Month, New Challenge

So I'm reading "Do Over" by Jon Acuff.  But as I walked three miles this morning, I listened to another Jon Acuff book, "Start".  I love the subtitles of this book... "Punch fear in the face.  Escape average.  Do work that matters."  I only walked for an hour, but I listened to the first two chapters of the book.  I'm already looking forward to listening to another chapter or so when I do this same walk tomorrow morning.

I find myself wanting to start new things on the first.  The first of the month is ideal, but the first day of the week works sometimes too.  I'm really not any good at starting something on a Thursday unless that happens to be the first day of the month.  But today is Saturday, the first of August.  It was a perfect day for starting something new.  Today, I started walking again.

I walked the SummerFest 5k route, though my FitBit insists that I only did 2.63 miles.  Still, it was a good walk and I feel great.  Like I said, I'll do it again tomorrow.  That's the plan!

I'm also going to make sure I spend time reading.  I want to do that every day. I'm in the middle of reading two different books.  And every week or so, I find another book I want to read.  I'll never get through all of those books if I don't spend some time reading every day.

This is what I'm reading right now...

1. Do Over - Jon Acuff
2. Total Forgiveness - R. T. Kendall

This is what I have on deck...

1. The Catholic Guide to Depression: How the Saints, the Sacraments, and Psychiatry Can Help You Break Its Grip and Find Happiness Again - Aaron Kheriarty, MD with Fr. John Cihak, STD
2. WordPress Web Design for Dummies
3. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World - Michael Hyatt
4. The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World

A couple of those are more for reference than for reading.  But I'll skim through them nonetheless.  I want to get my professional blog up and running and start pitching for freelance jobs.  So I bought a couple/few books to help out with that hustle. And I have another James Patterson book in the mail.  And I love me some fiction, so that one will likely jump to the top of the list.

I love to read.  I just need to make more time for it.  I need to make it a priority.  I'll learn a lot more from reading that I will from watching reruns of "The Waltons", regardless of how relaxing it might feel.  I've gotten into the habit of coming home from work, getting comfortable, and sitting in front of that wholesome family for a couple of hours decompressing from my day.  But it's not very productive.  I need to be/want to be a little more productive.  So I've challenged myself to spending that time walking and then reading.  It'll be good for me.  Just maybe not at the same time.