It is almost a year (next week) since I admitted to the world and anyone who would listen that I have had bouts of moderate to severe depression all my adult life and what a year it has been since. I will save the details for a celebratory anniversary post due on the 26 May but one of the most incredible and unexpected side effects has been an outpouring of creativity which has clearly been suppressed for too many years. As a trained Tax Consultant with an analytical mind, creativity took a back seat for a good many years and sometimes I wonder whether this has contributed to my frustrations. A creative soul harnessed by the practical need to pay the mortgage.
Since last May however I have often felt like I have been turned inside out whilst a gush of ideas and creativity exploded from within. Melodramatic as this sounds, it has felt very physical at times and I have spent many hours writing down my thoughts lest I forget them. I think my cork well and truly popped.
As well as writing this Blog, which I count as a daily essential rather than a “nice to have”, poems, articles for magazines, photographs, watercolour painting, scrap-booking, etc etc, I seem to have a supply of “ideas” which involve others in the creation of something just a bit out of the ordinary.
And so we have the Depression Alliance “Big Picnic” taking place on Sunday 5th May all over the UK. I’m hoping that we can put a 2012 calendar together using photos taken by the wonderfully talented members of the DA Facebook page and I am also helping my colleagues and my employer deal with depression more effectively and efficiently.
So, whilst I do admit that depression can be a milestone, it can also be a source of great innovation and creativity. If only everyone could find a way to release it as I have done.
I wish you all the luck and success in the world. You CAN do it.
