As anyone who stalks me on Facebook knows I've only recently had my flat connected to the internet and subsequently become a genuine member of society again instead of some kind of hermit-luddite hybrid that lives in a ditch and screams at cars. So for my triumphant comeback post I thought I'd change things up, and grace you with some timely (and thoughtful) political commentary and an exhaustive description of my favourite brands of milk. ... Or I'll just churn out some disjointed paragraphs on things that don't warrant a whole post. Christchurch: Brilliant or Bollocks?Moving to a city most famous for being utterly decimated in an earthquake isn't the most appealing idea but there's something intangibly interesting about Christchurch that means I really enjoy it here. Possibly it's because I'm a ninety four year old at heart and the town isn't what you'd describe as "raucous", possibly it's because there's a constant stream of new stuff appearing in the city every three minutes that makes it feel very vibrant, possibly because it's the location of a well paying job. It could be all of these things. In any case it's a city that gets mixed reviews from a lot of travellers and I feel the need to just say for definite that I like it here. In your face, other-people's-opinions. Things Not To Say To People With DepressionMoving into a new flat, being back on the other side of the world, and the colder weather are all conspiring to make me feel much more vulnerable to despair at the moment than I have been of late. One thing that's played on my mind a lot though is the prevalence of well meaning articles with titles like "15 Things You Shouldn't Say To Someone Struggling With Depression" and "Worst Things To Say To Someone Who's Depressed". I've intimated this before but to make this more explicit: I don't think it's that effective to try and "order" people who don't have mental health problems to behave in a certain way. Don't get me wrong: anything that makes more people aware of how depression can be a crippling illness and isn't just "feeling a bit sad" is a-OK, but couching it in language that says "HEY! You MUST stop doing these things because it will upset people. We order you" is probably a good way to alienate readers. Here's an alternative: Just encourage people to talk, full stop. If you know someone with depression don't sit there worrying about what to say because you might hurt their feelings: Yeh, you might, and it might upset them, but if you're a decent human being and they know you're a friend you'll work it out and you might gain some insight into why they got upset. Don't worry about sticking to a script. Hell it's so subjective you might find some people who do respond positively to the things on those lists (although studies would suggest that's very rare); everyone will have their preferences and their own mental intricacies, it's pointless generalising that much. After all, I know a wheelchair bound guy who's perfectly happy to be called a cripple to his face. And if you want to deliberately upset people then I doubt Buzzfeed will change your mind. Instagram is a Horrible Thing for Awful PeopleAt the end of May a study was published that showed that Instagram was the most detrimental social networking tool to a user's mental wellbeing. I'm particularly fond of the "compare and despair" description invoked; being a relatively new user of the platform I've found it to be useful to shove some traffic to these 'ere words wot I write, but also potentially intensely effective at generating negative emotions when I follow fellow travel writers and see impeccably re-touched scenes of impossible natural beauty on a daily basis. The entire site seems predicated on projecting the digital equivalent of a rictus-grin adorned with a fifty thousand dollar Rolex which you wave around casually going "What this? Oh it's nothing really; I have several timepieces". You've got to tiptoe carefully around genuinely interesting accounts to avoid the fawning sycophants who leave eerie copy-pasted responses on all your photos in a desperate bid for people to follow them. "Be my friiiieeend" they moan, as they ooze from the shadows onto your comments... It makes for good humour though: Sun and SadnessSeasonal Affective Disorder—often affectionately abbreviated to SAD—is characterised by bouts of depression brought on by changes in seasons; most commonly over winter months. It's something I succumb to and one of the biggest reasons I was reluctant to come back to the Antipodes. Here's a surefire way to smash your mood into tiny unhappy pieces: expose yourself to cold miserable weather while 92% of your social media contacts are discussing tan lines. Thankfully, I'm pretty happy with how New Zealand is treating me this cold season. It's much more easy to feel optimistic when you not only can see the sky all year because grey clouds are more furtive and don't hang around for forty seven weeks, but the sunsets every day are like nature rubbing ambrosia and nectar directly on my brain's pleasure centre. So that's nice.
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Author28 year old computer scientist/physicist with major depressive disorder, a need to write, and a deep-rooted mistrust of beetroot. Categories
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February 2018
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