Comments on: spiral

By: eleanor mitchell

eleanor mitchell — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:57:31 +0000

Try eating a reasonably large quantity of black grapes when you feel depressed. Don’t knock it until you have tried it.

By: Touched

Touched — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:53:29 +0000

I hate those black dog days when my partner tries to destroy everything good between us; in fact I keep closer tabs on her cycle than she does.

I have done a lot of reading up on causes and solutions, including dietary influences. One study I came across recently recommended a high Calcium, low fat diet. The down side was that you also needed to eat a tin of oily fish a day (for its Vitamin D) and I don’t see this happening in my case as her sense of smell is heightened at the same time :(

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:38:24 +0000

Years ago I was in St. Corentin’s Cathedral Quimper.

On one of the leaflets there was a quote from Louis Jestin the resident priest : “You are taller than you think.”

You just need to remember that and perhaps that’s why we are here – to remind you …

By: Clare

Clare — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:40:04 +0000

Me too. Everything’g going well, I’ve jjust come back from a great hol, and yet I’m fighting dark thoughts.

Years ago I had a counsellor who I’m afraid was utterly rubbish in most respects, but he did say one helpful thing which I’ve never forgotten. I was telling him how depressed I’d been feeling at sporadic intervals, and my subtext was that I found this worrying. Which I did, because my mother and grandmother had both been debilitated by long periods of catatonic depression in the past, and I was worried it might happen to me too.

He said that maybe I was just prone to small chunks of depression, and that’s all there was to it. That it was part of the cycle of being me, and I should just accept it and put up with it and not fight it or worry about it. I found it immensely cheering.

The thing is, no matter how objectively wonderful someone’s life might be, I don’t think anyone can be unremittingly happy. Life ebbs and flows, and the colour comes from the contrast between the highs and the lows. The low points come, and then they go away again. Like the sea. And of course we all have hormones. I’m not assuming your low was hormonal, but whether it was or not, it’s never a bad idea to warn those closest to us that at times we may be irrational, and at those times the best strategy is to give us a hug but apart from that pay as little attention as poss and try not to take it personally.

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:34:43 +0000

#104 sums up the problem of blogging about a loving breathing relationship rather well. You can’t do both, blog and love, not if you give a damn. That’s what diaries are for and a blog is not a diary. It’s a conversation with myriad others (and inevitably amongst them, too). So its public, while a diary is private. Blogging about a relationship is destructive and makes sense only if personal catharsis is more important than the relationship. Blogging is about “getting over” relationships, not for building them. So you don’t blog about a lover if you care about them. Blogging changes the power relationship over your shared experience. It skews the public/private boundaries – ‘what do I reveal or conceal about this person?’ – it undoes love and trust and it pre-empts intimacy…

…but I think Petite’s last post is about loneliness and fear of abandonment.

By: Bridges

Bridges — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:16:02 +0000

Petite…I mean…Beau…From a reader’s point, the character of “the boy” is quite er…how shall I say…absent. Surely, for people who know personaly PA, I’m sure things are much clearer and therefore it is easier to understand the anguish that comes with a loving relationship…it would be easier to relate to PA’s existantial demise if we actually knew what she sees in this young lad apart from the fact that er, he’s there…From our point, i.e. the reader’s, the only thing we know about “the boy” is that he is younger than PA, he goes to raves and takes ecstasy,(yes, some people had time to read that post)goofs around on the computer whilst with PA and enraging her for it, forgets to turn on the morning alarm before they catch a flight to go on vacation…hardly anything to make him likable… up until now he’s just been the main source of PA’s emotional dependancy crisis (will he stil love me? Will he put up with me? I’m such a crazy girl, oh dear, oh my, look at me I’m a nutcase yet he’s still hanging around), why, WE HAVE NO IDEA, because he is non existant, he has no voice. I’m sure in “real life” love, as you say, is enough (who said romance is dead)but on the page, mate, it’s hard to give a hoot’s about the boy. As for the one night quickie…I think everyone came up to the conclusion, say, 2 months ago. DUH. So PA, I think I can understand why you don’t talk about him…don’t want to ruin the relationship by saying things he will read here…fair enough. It’s understandable. But it makes it hard to care when, as readers, we can only go by one side of the drama…I guess writing about your personnal life in your own name is, I’m afraid, impossible. The personnal insight, the secret we all shared as readers whilst you were anonymous is gone. From a personnal standpoint, I totally understand. But from a writing standpoint, sorry, I don’t see it (the point). It’s either writing or living. Can’t do both at the same time without screwing up the other one. It’s just one of those things, I guess.

By: srock

srock — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:03:27 +0000

this struck a chord with me…probably because i can relate and you write it so well.

i feel like sometimes the big picture is too much to take in…it helps to try to focus on the little things – good wine, good friends, good writing. lifes too short. when i feel the pressure – i usually tell myself to just be easy…and the weight lifts a little. be well!

By: suzanne

suzanne — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:54:42 +0000

I stubled upon your blog some time ago, and have bookmarked it as a favorite of mine, and read it ever so often. This post of yours has really cut to my bone, and describes the depression feeling very well.

All I can tell you is what my daughter once told me, Mom, she said, remember these words. “This too shall pass” and she was right.

so Petite Anglaise, remember, “this too shall pass”

By: Cinderella

Cinderella — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:35:02 +0000

As someone that has spent the last 3 months under a doona, hybernating and licking my wounds and mourning the death of my Father, I can definately relate to your poignant description of depression.

I’m happy to say that I am now in remission and no longer rely on my doona “cocoon” or a family block of chocolate to get through the day.

Petite, there is a 3 part treatment plan that I’ve tried and tested:

Top notch psychologist/psychiatrist.
Pray/spiritual belief/higher meaning.
Exercise, exercise, exercise.

Good Luck xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By: running thread

running thread — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:23:22 +0000

Those immortal words ring true for me:
“Tomorrow is another day”

Running Thread