Doing Good = Feeling Good

Do you have those friends that seem like depression is their friend?  They just don't seem happy unless they are complaining?  I swear Facebook has made this even worse.  Some people have turned complaining into an art form.  I think that they are bolstered by the people that post supportive comments, but the positive comments don't actually seem to encourage the people to change:  it just encourages them to complain even more. 

My husband is fascinated by one of our friends who begs for Friday every Monday.  Not once in a while, but every single week.  We've decided that if life is really that bad then maybe it is time to move on and change your life so that Monday is a good day.  Hating 1/7th of your life is not the way to live.

Then there is a certain family member that tells us how awful life is: how tired, uncomfortable, and out of shape he is.  At least once a day, among the many, many posts we are reminded how bad his life is.  We started by trying to be supportive, but clearly he doesn't want or just can't accept help.

So, I'm not sure if my post the other day was in response to this negativity, but my post was "Doing good = Feeling Good". This is a sentiment that I not only espouse but live.  This weekend for example, DD and I worked a blood drive on Friday.  Saturday, we visited our former foster child. Sunday, we wrapped Operation Christmas Child boxes in the morning and then returned to church to hand out Halloween Fair Trade Candy.  All and all it was an amazing weekend.

I think that doing good and helping others is better than any anti-depressant out there.  The power of one making a difference is almost intoxicating.  And I'm always reminded that one + one = even more good work getting done. The only thing better than doing good work yourself is doing good work with others.

I hope that you will find a way to help others and then you can post about it so that we can all be uplifted to do more.