Fighting the beast

**Marx** · 18th-June-2009

I've been battling that damn mutt for a long time.

And I've laid back and allowed it to rip my flesh from the bones on too many occasions.

But at this time, I feel confident in saying - I gave the damn mutt a good kicking this time around.

Between getting my own home (again), getting on the road (passing test, buying bike, going out for lengthy rides into wildnernesses, etc.) and now - getting a job I (so far) seem to enjoy thoroughly (for the most part), I really do think I'm back on my own two feet and fighting fit.

Today I got caught in the rains (yet again)... but I was on such a high in the mild drizzle... I'm so glad to feel 'happy' again.

It's been such a long time.

Let's talk about methods on how to deal with the damn mutt.

How do you deal with it?

**haahoo** · 18th-June-2009

I just reach into my pants and fight the other beast!!

**Feckless** · 18th-June-2009

Good to hear that you are back on track, Karl.

What is a mutt? A dog? Are we talking about depression? If yes I try to have people arround me as much as possible. Being alone equals being depressed for me.

**Percy** · 18th-June-2009

I write humour.

And cry.

Not always in that order !

**Incognito** · 18th-June-2009

I try to stay busy..and when I'm really down, staying busy has to include being social.

Getting enough sunshine (being outdoors) helps and so does exercise of some sort even if it's just walking. We have a lot of really scenic trails here. I like to walk on the beach.

When I talked to you earlier you mentioned a quite literal big black cloud that followed you around while you were working. You said that nowhere else in the city were your friends experiencing black clouds above them...just you. And you said you predicted that cloud was gonna rain on you...and it did. And you were the only one it rained on, within a certain radius...and the coolest thing you said was that it was great. It cooled you off and it felt good.

I don't know Marx, but maybe that's part of the key to keeping that black dog away...you know, the way you see things. You could have seen it as Mother Nature conspiring against you...that it only ever rains "on you"...or something to that effect, but instead you saw what was good about the situation (it cooled you off when you were overly warm)...and you decided to view it that way. The silver-lining in every cloud. There always is one if you look hard enough!

**Marx** · 18th-June-2009

Well on this occasion, the rain was cooling - it was like nature's personal shower ''just for Marx''.

So anyway, one thing I think that needs mentioning for fighting the damn mutt (dog) is to get good sleep. Sometimes that is near impossible as your own body simply refuses to let that happen. But once you can get the ball rolling, it snowballs (slowly perhaps) to the point where you can get reasonable sleep.