One of the elements of depression and anxiety that I’ve found to be a true catch-22 lies in the nature of conversation and engaging others. You don’t conquer depression in a vacuum, you need interpersonal relationships, that’s a given. The problems arise when trying to engage others becomes a weird lop sided affair.
One of the most typical things for me at least has often been ‘looped’ or single word replies. We’ve all been there, and social media, email/instant messenger apps make it happen. You say something, hoping to engage in conversation, you get back “that’s cool” or “ok”. There may be a myriad of reasons for it, folks are busy, things have different priorities. On the receiving end though it often feels like a brush off or a deflection. It isn’t their fault of course, therein lies the catch-22.
From my side I need to remind myself that everyone has their lives they are leading and timing doesn’t always mesh. I also have to remember how to phrase things so that they understand I’m reaching out. When you’re fighting depression it can be hard to not sound like you’re being negative but that’s another factor. Most folks don’t want to discuss negative things, it takes a toll.
It’s a daily struggle but I’m working little by little to restructure how I engage folks and not letting the ‘busyness’ of life make me dwell on the negativity I feel.
