By Carl Nichols
A year ago it got very real for me as I shared my story with hundreds of people about a time in my life when I battled depression.
I am 100% sure that there are more depressed people in our community today than would actually admit, or even realize. In America, use of medication to treat depression has increased over 400% since 1988, making the people of the USA the wealthiest and most depressed people on the planet. Here are a few things that a friend and mentor helped me recognize in my own life:
4 Things that contributed to my depression
- An Unrealistic Pace – You can only run at full throttle for so long before you hit a wall
- An Unrealistic Expectation of Others – People will let you down so quit pretending that they won’t
- An Unrealistic View on Life – I was at one of the best places in my life financially as well as in my career, yet was growing unhappier and unhealthier by the day
- An Unrealistic Desire for Approval – Almost all of us struggle with this!
3 Realities about overcoming depression
- Denial doesn’t help, it only hurts – The first step in any recovery is to recognize the problem
- You cannot do life alone – God’s design for all of us is relational in nature so it is important to have others who share our faith walking with us in this journey called life.
- The solution begins by addressing the brokenness inside of you – Unless we realize our fallenness and brokenness, it is impossible for us to be authentic enough to recover and have faith in someone greater.
Remember…
Only God can use your pain for your progress!