Thinking of Depression

When I think of depression, I think of the time when I was a senior in high school.  Considering various colleges and universities, I visited Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire.  At around eleven o’clock p.m. the boys who were hosting me decided that there was no better way to introduce me to the beauty of the natural surroundings than to take me for a night hike up Mount Manadnok.

While on the summit of the rock covered and wind swept mountain we lost the trail. The wind was fierce, the air was cold, the night was dark, and we had lost our bearings.  We huddled together in a rock cleft, shivering out the cold night while wondering if the sun would rise again.  Eventually at around six o’clock a.m. the sun rose and it’s warmth caressed our nearly hypothermic bodies.  It was one of the nicest sunrises I have experienced.

As the sun rose I turned to my colleagues and said (quoting the Grateful Dead), “sometimes you just might find, you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”

When I find myself in a bought of depression, I am grateful for that night I spent shivering on Mount Manadnok.

To learn more about Depression and it’s treatment visit Mental Health America at: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/depression.