Setting Boundaries for Depression

He gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command.  Proverbs 8:29 NIV

No one thinks, "I think I'll be depressed today."  People don't choose depression.  If you have chronic depression it is a chemical imbalance in the brain, part of your biological makeup.  You don't choose to be depressed; you just are---depressed. However, the person who experiences depression does have choices.  Namely, how you deal with being depressed is a choice you get to make.

In my last post I wrote about being on vacation---sitting by the sea and viewing the boundaries God established for the oceans.  However, I was so enthralled by the whole scenario I failed to write about the boundaries.  In dealing with depression we can also, through God's help, set boundaries.   For example, at one point my therapist asked me how low I was willing to go.  He shared with me that he had been depressed to the point that he decided to let himself go to the point where he cried endlessly for weeks.

I had already been there and did not want to go back.  I had no intention of getting to the place where I stayed in bed and cried for days at a time.  I refused to go that low.  I wasn't thinking about it at the time but what I had decided to do was set a boundary.  Depression in my life that day would not be allowed to go there.  Just as God set boundary lines for the seas I had set a boundary line for depression.

We can do that.  We can choose to set boundaries for this chronic illness and refuse to let it take our lives.  One way to set boundaries is to take meds as prescribed.  If you have diabetes you take your meds in order to live a healthy life.  So, if you have depression you take your meds.  It's that simple. 

Last year I was so depressed while on vacation I rarely left the room.  This year I set boundaries and chose to do the things that make me healthy.  My sweet husband and I had the best vacation we have had in years.  It's not easy to be proactive and set boundaries.  It takes work and choosing to eat right, live right, and take meds if that's part of your regimen for health.  But if God has set boundaries for a body as immense as the ocean, He can set boundaries for depression.  Let Him guide you.  It can be done.  I'm living proof.  Praise God I'm still alive!  And you are too...

To God be the Glory!  Amen.