I will act as if my day matters.  I was depressed yesterday.  I decided to take a new tact.  Today I shaved, put out clean clothing and I will take a needed shower.  I did none of that yesterday and had a pity party.  I will act as if I matter (and that means taking proper care of myself).  You can work from the outside in.  I will take better care of myself today.  I already feel better.  All those details mentioned matter.  I will continue to act as if I matter.  And I do.

Depression can easily become a pity party.  Our lives are always imperfect.  Things don’t always go our way.  We have expectations that fail.  It is so easy to slide into depression.  I just took a shower and reflected before I married my wife I only had a tub.  For fifteen years I had no shower.  It is all too easily to forget that and the many reasons I have to thank the Almighty for his many blessings.  And I have to reflect on that and count them.  The list is long.  Ingratitude is very easy to go to.  Our lives never go exactly as we we want them to.  Our lives are always a series of problems and only some get solved to our satisfaction.  That is life!  If we can go back and count our blessings and learn to do it routinely depression is less likely to set in.  God does not promise us anything beyond food and shelter and usually His blessings are abundant.  It is too easy to center on what we don’t have.  Our unmet expectations can easily turn into depression if you are not careful.  And then it becomes a pity party.  It is, though, hard to be positive when we don’t feel good.  Good health is a blessing.