I hope you've noticed....

I hope you've noticed my little theme of thankfulness in the last few posts. I suffer from Seasonal Depression and this time of year not only makes me gloomy, but it also causes some major germophobic anxiety. This year I have decided to try to work through this unmedicated (years past, my prescribed med was zoloft which works good, but I just want to not have to take pills everyday if I can help it) my doctor back in spring suggested something simple, stay off the zoloft, and use my low dose tranqulizer as needed.That way I have something for when I can't quite shake the anxiety, yet I am not taking something daily. Why didn't *I* think of that?!?! The moral of my story today is this: meds help, but they don't make the problem go away. I am faced with this year in and year out and unless I feel like forever being on something to calm my body into "normal" mode, I need to step out of the box. Thankfulness creeps in. I am spending a LOT more time meditating, praying and reading my Bible. I am getting really close with God and asking *Him* to work me through this. Afterall, God is the answer to everything in my life and I truly believe he will get me through this, right by my side. To get a little boost on the process, I have started taking Vitamin D supplements to make up for the lack of sun in the Chicagoland area. My symptoms are by no means gone, but every little bit is helping. When I start to feel down, I turn my mind to thankfulness. There is something to be thankful for in each and every moment in each and every day. Even those moments of chaos! I am relieved to find how easy it is to find my thankfulness "center" when my mind is going downhill. It's easy to be down in the dumps and just stay there, but it's much more refreshing to work your way out by finding the silver lining. It's there. In everything!