Depression is a subject I've been avoiding for a while; it is deeply complex and for those suffering, a deeply personal and seemingly insurmountable thing to deal with. It is fraught with both self induced guilt and also an air of 'there must be something wrong with me'. It is debilitating and soul destroying.

It is not a simple as a chemical imbalance, and certainly not a lack of 'Prozac, Nortriptyline, Sertraline or Citalopram'.

New Year Resolutions

How to make them. How to Keep them!

We often enter the new year with new resolutions - something we want to change, do differently, a behaviour or a goal we want to attain - be it health, wealth or happiness related. Here a few hints on how to make that happen!

It is not only the season to be jolly - it's also the season that can cause an awful lot of stress /distress. Family, food and Far-too-much-Fun can all add up to feeling a little worse for wear. Here are 10 helpful hints to help you get through:

If you haven't already been bombarded with messages about this this week... It's Mental Health Week. Over the years, the term "Mental Health" has slowly began to actually mean "mental health" as opposed to the absence of mental illness - which is quite a different thing. The WHO (World Health Organisation) define Mental Health as "as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community".

I think a lot of us at times feel that there is something more to us than we are currently experiencing – but feel overwhelmed and unsure of what it might be - so given the choice, we choose to do nothing. A while ago, I wrote about the changes I had to make to end up doing what I now do. I had left work due to 'burn out', and decided to take a year off. I had no idea what I was going to do, but felt that I really had to the potential to do something different. Better. More satisfying. However, after a few months I began to wonder whether to forget about my plan and instead return to the status quo. Although I felt that there was something 'better' out there for me I did not know what and I certainly had no idea what my ‘potential’ was. I was getting nervous and feeling a little unsure of what I was doing.

And then this poem was read out to me:

This has been something that has been on my mind for quite some time.

And something I have been trying to get my head around for a while.

I know so much has been written about it and I know that there have been all sorts of ideas and suggestions to 'throw away your day job and travel the world'. And that's all very well and good (if that's what you want to do). But it's not at all possible.

Is it?

One of my very favourite cartoons is this one from Michael Leunig. It encapsulates how life sometimes feels - and how - when things are very tough - it is the small things that get you through.

We are constantly challenged - on a daily basis - to rise above what we might consider our primitive response, to engage our brain, to make decisions no matter how minute on a moment to moment basis. We tackle traffic, a rude fellow human, a washing machine that breaks down mid-cycle, a phone call from a distressed friend and then we have to cope with the bigger things in life, death of a loved one, loss of a pet, dissolution of a relationship.

I've developed a simple rule over the past couple of years. It seems somewhat self indulgent. And I wondered for a while if it was.  But it seems to work incredibly well. So much so that I almost think that it is not possible for things to be this simple or this easy.

Quite simply; stop doing the things you don't love.