After New Years Eve all the new year hub bub settles down, if you’ve been around the block once or twice, you can see a small dip in the road of life coming up.
I’m going to try a complicated move this week.
Similar to the Triple-Lindy.
I’m going to try and weave a Military Service Thank You; a Personal Exercise experience; and a Depression notice to my friends and family who suffer this time of year… all into one article.
Heavy… I know.
That’s why I started out with a little joke.
Firstly, this time of year is hard on those who suffer from depression. That dip in the road I mentioned occurs in the same spot of the road, every year, and when we suffer from depression, even though we know it’s coming… we still get mired down and suffer through it.
“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters;…”
Psalm 69:1-2 NIV
I have suffered through depression in my past. It took nothing less than an act of God in my life to release me from it.
It held me as fast as a well placed, double staked, center swiveled, #4, Duke Coyote foothold trap.
“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
Psalm 142:3 NIV
You knew my path.
In the way where I walk
They have hidden a trap for me.”
The thing with a foothold trap is, if you know what you’re doing, you can release “the trapped one”… without harm.
I did it with my hunting dog Gibson, on a Grouse hunt. He found a small fox trap with his front right foot. I released him, and we finished the hunt.
And God did it with me, and my depression, releasing me unharmed, BUT with a great experience whereby He can use me to help others… friends and family first… then, any others who find my books and articles.
This article is to let those people suffering with their depression during this heightened time of year that they have someone who is thinking about them; who is in their corner; who they know personally; who hopefully comes across as being helpful… who they can look at as a real example, of a real person they know… who they can see now has, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, with a handle (a small one) on his mental and physical health.
“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
Psalm 25:15-17 NIV
Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.”
Secondly, I’d like to say, “Thank You,” for your service, to my family who have served.
Most notably for me, my cousin Marshall – Army Paratrooper; my cousins Mark & Steve – United States Marine Corps (along with some kids who are serving now, and have served)… and closest to me… my younger brother, Don, United States Marine Corp.
I’m real proud of him. He went; he served; he learned some new skills; and as a Marine… qualifies as a “Badass!” as he described it, to my youngest son, when he represented The Corps at my sons school function for the senior class. Sitting along side the other branches of service.
My youngest son always got a kick out of that comment.
But the thing I’m most proud of him for, after he completed his military service, he has been serving his family, relishing his duty as a dad; and he’s had some doozies of ups and downs; and now continuing that service, having been promoted to top brass of Grandpa.
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Isaiah 6:8 NIV
It’s in that vein of service that I offer up this article… as a potential help to those who may be suffering right now. Through depression; anxiety; the loss of a loved one; being out of work; if you’re reading this… I’m with you.
And Thirdly… in honor of my family members who served in the Marine Corps, I have been using, the Marine Basic Physical Fitness Test, as my standard in helping me get back into shape, stay healthy for life, and to test my personal manhood (and in case of the way of the world, if it all comes unhinged, my physical fitness may allow me to have a fighting chance, and the way things are going today, as of January 2021… I might get that chance.)
If you’ve suffered with depression for any length of time you have heard, “Start exercising. It’s a great way to fight depression.”
I always asked, “Why?”
“Well, it gets the good juices flowing, you know? The good dopamine.”
I tried to start exercising, off and on, over the years. It didn’t seem to faze my depression.
Only after God used his Holy Spirit trap-stake puller, was I able to see the benefits of not just exercise, but… knowledge about calories; healthy protein, carb AND fat portions; and not only that… but having a consistent, routine, daily exercise plan.
For me, and maybe for you, my depression centered itself on my brain in a palpable grey-ness covering, feeling like a Crispy Creme glaze, that gets all sticky over your fingers, but on your brain.
Causing for me the tell tale signs of depression; barely able to get out of bed most days; struggling to look and be happy for your wife and kids; feeling like a zombie that nobody likes; and… contemplating suicide, when it would be at it’s worse.
My real exercise journey didn’t start until two years after God released me from my trap of depression.
In January 2016 I started… I looked up the Marine Fitness Test to use as my guide… along with taking up boxing as the foundational workout, I was on my way.
I’m not gonna lie, and say it’s all been easy. I’m not gonna lie and say it’s all been hard either.
This is a life track that I chose to use with intentional purpose. There have been ups, downs, sideways, and once or twice I shoulda zigged… when I zagged!
I still will have depression type thoughts… on occasion… the difference being… now I can recognize them. They look like weeds.
Just like that dip in the road, OR like a cagey old Coyote, that got toe pinched when he was a pup, I can spot a fake mouse hole, or negative thought… from a mile away!
I use this time of year, this yearly depressed dip in the road, in January, for my yearly Marine Fitness Test.
I took the test today 1/12/2021
I passed! 220 points out of 300. For my age bracket.
I did the…
- 3 mile run in 21:15.86 point score 93
- Ab Crunches 51 reps in 2 minutes point score 51
- Pull Ups 12 reps in 2 minutes point score 76
- All in under 30 minutes (the Marines have a two hour window for completion)
- Today was a milestone for me, in that I was able to complete the run without stopping; without shin splints; without getting out of breath; without over heating.
- Also today I met my goal of, “Don’t be so out of shape in your fifties as you were in 2016, in your forties.”
- And those numbers leave lots of room for personal improvement.
At this stage of my life I can share with you my current understandings concerning my SPIRITUAL, MENTAL & PHYSICAL health.
The good news… everything that I “discovered” available to me… is absolutely available to you… and I’m here to tell ya.
You know me… I’m not B.S.ing you.
Some of you knew me… way back… when you could trust me to do some crazy things… not good things either.
That’s why I think you can trust me now. I’ve been over that depressed dip more than once, and you know that too.
Just like the dip, after the railroad track bump, on the way to Grandma Allens, down by the river, I know at what speed you need to be going to get over it safely… instead of cracking your head on the roof of the car.
I also know, if I can… YOU CAN… learn the benefits that come with taking charge of your Spiritual, Mental & Physical health.
I hope this helps you to get through today.
Blessing’s,
Dave
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