How Not to Be Depressed

I did everything I was supposed to do yesterday, and now I'm not depressed any more.

1) I got up early and wrote a full (short-ish) chapter on my book-in progress. In itself, that might have been enough to keep me un-depressed all day.

2) On the way to church, I walked for a bit with my writer friend, Cat, and her adorable little boy, Max, and her dog, Jonesy. Nobody could be depressed in the company of Cat. It would simply be impossible.

3) I went to church, first to our children's worship service, Where the Wild Things Worship, and then to big people church. What I love best about church, I think, is the singing. In Wild Things we sang, "Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallulujah, praise ye the Lord." We sing it by dividing ourselves into three groups, one group singing the "Hallelu," the second group singing "Praise ye the Lord," and the third group singing simply the "jah" on the end of "Hallelu." Each group hops up to sing its line and then sits down again, making for a most aerobic form of worship. The most fun group, of course, is "jah." I got to be in the "jah" group. I don't think anybody could be in the "jah" group and be depressed afterward.

4) After church, I typed up my chapter from my morning's writing, AND read a wonderful revised first chapter from my mentee, AND read one chapter of a good but densely written philosophy book on which I have to present comments in a talk next week, AND went through the copy-edited manuscript for Mason Dixon: Basketball Disasters (swooning at the brilliance and deliciously obsessive thoroughness of the copyeditor), AND took care of a small pesky task that was long overdue, AND read part of a book I need to review. Try being depressed after that marathon of productivity!

5) I did check my email, but no more than once every fifteen minutes. Well, more like once every ten minutes, but still. Progress!

So now that I know how not to be depressed, all I have to do is to continue to do these things every day for the rest of my life. Hallelu - JAH!!!