Reply #46: i can assure you you're not alone.

[orleans]

there are thousands of us, i'm sure, that suffer right along with you.

a few months back i heard somewhere that there has been a real boon to the antidepressant market--and the the various counseling services (including therapists, shrinks, psychologists) has also had a greater demand put on them since the election.

i feel more and more saddened and depressed lately. i'm growing more tired and weary--sometimes i feel i just want to sleep--to escape and pull the covers over my head and sleep for a week.

sometimes i am so distracted by the politics of our country i wonder how i manage to get through a day doing anything else but obsessing.

you said:
"I suppose I am pained by the fact that, I cannot do more to relieve people from their uninvited circumstances."

well, you know -- as i do -- that we, individually, are not responsible for what is happening in this country and of course we are not the great and powerful oz that can make magical things happen.

but we do work within a community--this community and others--and when our voices join to make a chorus then we are capable of great things.

and just like the people serving in the "armed forces" we continue to do our share of a different battle here at home. and so many of them are counting on us to do this battle for them--because they are not in a position to do this battle for themselves.

so we've gotta hang in there, stay as strong as they need us to be, and keep fighting. we've gotta help each other. and if you need some additional assistance it is not weak to seek it out. it takes a lot of courage and strength to ask for help.

with drinking--it's up to you. you've gotta take that first step alone and just know, in your heart, that there are people who love you and will be there with you every next step of the way.