Depression is A Warm, Snuggly Blanket

People throw this word around a lot : Depression. They say it with such nonchalance sometimes "I'm so depressed, Jimmy broke up with me", I'm so depressed, I gained 10 pounds over Christmas", "I'm so depressed I didn't get that promotion." You know it very well may be that all of these people are truly and clinically depressed. I don't know. But what I think is that they think they are only because some TV commercial gave them a label for their perfectly acceptable feelings. Our culture would have us believe that negative feelings themselves are unnatural. If you go to a doctor, they give you a pill to make it go away. But how can they say that a person taking a shot of tequila at 8 am is not doing the exact same thing?

I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes I feel like I'm not allowed to be sad, that for some reason I'm expected to just go on in my life and pretend like the insides of me aren't twisted and scarred and bleeding. No one wants to really, really see the aftermaths of mourning and grief - its too frightening. But its real. So, I'm tunneling under the blankets. And it sort of feels good to be honest. Isn't that why people are always stating that stupid thing "be true to yourself". Whatever the hell that means. My interpretation is that I need to wallow for a while in the sadness, because it is natural and true. And don't worry, I always wait until 5 to drink tequila