Down But Not Out

I sit here now, almost 7 years since I was diagnosed with depression, I take a moment and look around. Long gone are the material goods most of us strive to obtain. No house. No vehicles. Few personal items. As well, I have no job, no income, no money. All of those wrongly referenced items of success that I had...well, no more.

However to focus on what I don't have is not fair to what I do have. I have my good health. I am as mentally strong as when I was 25 years old, and I was solid then. I have my family. I can sleep well. I am no longer a regular Letterman viewer. I can have a real laugh. I can read, and enjoy, a book. I can watch a movie without 1/2 through wondering what I was watching, unable to focus well enough and long enough. I appeciate my life. I appreciate that the late night canoe trip around my lake, with no return, never happened.

I no longer pretend that my life is good, because now it actually is good, even wonderful at times.

The material stuff, it may come round again, but I realize I don't need it to be happy.