Monday, August 25, 2008

Blogging - Therapeutic to me and a tool in recovery from depression and coping with bipolar and other challenges in my life

Dear Friends,

Thanks for stopping by!

I am thankful to God for restoring me from a relapse of clinical depression recently. Bipolar disorder is a medical condition with extreme mood swings (manic and depression) which can be treated. I am thankful to God for preserving me through the difficult times of a relapse and strengthening me now.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragements. They mean a lot to me!

As I am on the road of recovery, I am learning to pace myself moderately and prayerfully.

I have at one point of time contemplated giving up on blogging as I found myself spending a considerable amount of time writing on my blog and visiting other's blog. I do a lot of this especially when I am hypomanic :-)

Too much blogging is actually mentally very taxing on me though I don't always realized it. My freelance work is also very taxing as I work on the computer most of time. I suspect my relapse of clinical depression recently was due to overstraining at my freelance work plus blogging.

Should I give up blogging? I prayed and asked the Lord for direction.

It has been a joy and privilege for me to be acquainted with many blogging friends who are suffering from depression, bipolar and other physical or mental conditions.

To be able to share and support one another as we seek to learn to understand and manage our conditions has a great impact upon my life. I felt I have grown much over the last half year of blogging through my acquaintance with such dear friends and learning from various people's experiences. I am learning to understand my condition better and to manage it better.

Ever since I joined Word-Filled Wednesday and Thankful Thursday, God has helped me to grow spiritually.

Word-Filled Wednesday (WFW) reminds me of many precious passages from God's Words. God's Words bring comfort, encouragement and direction in my life. It helps me to know more of God's love, His mercies and His sovereignty. Every visit to WFW blogs and post are very encouraging and refreshing. WFW also gives me opportunities to share my passion in photography and God's Words with others. I am thankful to God for many kind friends who allowed me to use the photographs they took and shared them on WFW. Thanks, Amy Deane, for hosting Word-Filled Wednesday and thank God for giving us this precious opportunities to be reminded and encouraged by His Words and beautifies of His creations!

Thankful Thursday (TT) helped me to count my blessings and to be thankful for God's many mercies. I learn to appreciate little things in life and to be thankful for them. Visiting the various TT blogs have strengthened my faith in God as I read of His goodness to His people in spite of whatever difficulties we face in this fallen world. I read of the power of God sustaining and delivering His people from the trials in their life. I read of how thankful they are admist the challenges of life. I am greatly humbled by the many who find reasons to praise and thank God for little things in life which I sometimes overlooked or took for granted. TT has in some way changed my perspective. It has helped me to be a more thankful and happy person despite the bout of depression I experience every now and then, and the many challenges I face in managing bipolar disorder, my work, my family, etc etc. Thanks, Iris, for hosting Thankful Thursday and thank God for using it to encourage us to count our blessings and know more and more of His love!

I am so thankful for your friendships, dear friends and visitors, and the way you and your blogs or your comments have encouraged me. I am greatly humbled by so many of you visiting me and encouraging me. Your prayers and encouragements mean a lot to me. They are especially precious in my recovery process. God has used all of you to provide the love, friendship and support that I needed very much in my recovery. It makes a lot of difference.

I am thankful to God too for making my posts an encouragement to various people. It is my joy and privilege to share with you God's goodness and mercies to me in managing depression, bipolar and other challenges in my life. God is good to me. I am greatly humbled by the knowledge that what I shared has touched some people's life and I thank God for using such a weak vessel so that His grace and glory may shine through!

In life, we will have our portions of ups and downs. Whether it be depression, bipolar or other physical or mental afflictions, or loss of jobs, loss of loved ones, and other difficulties in life, to have the love and support of family and friends is so precious. Thank God that He is with us and thank God that we can be here for one another!

So in other words, Blogging is therapeutic to me. I am encouraged by so many of you. And when God uses me to encourage you in return, it gives me a sense of satisfaction to know that I can still be useful and contribute despite my infirmities. It helps me to feel useful and challenges me to be more useful, as God enables me.

I have found it a joy to blog. Blogging allows me to share my thoughts and feelings, to verbalise it and to see things more clearly. It has also enriched my life through the vast of information that other bloggers shared through their life, resources they found useful and comfort from God's Words and God's goodness to them.

So here I am, continuing with blogging :-)

But I shall endeavor to pace myself more moderately in order to prevent burn-out and depression, as far as I can. I probably won't be posting on my blog and visiting blogs everyday like what I did before my relapse of clinical depression recently. I have to learn to understand my limitation and work within that boundary. You are in my thoughts and prayers always. I love to visit your blogs but if I am not able to visit you as much as I would like to, I trust you will understand :-)

What about you? Do you enjoy blogging? How has blogging helped you? Or how has blogging changed your life?

Thanks again for stopping by, dear friends and visitors. Your friendship and kindness means a lot to me and I thank God for everyone of you. I pray that God will make me a blessing to you too and that your visit to my blog has been a pleasant and encouraging experience. All praise and glory be to God!

Take care and have a blessed day!

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Psalm 73:26

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nancie,

May you continue to be blessed and encouraged as you seek the Lord and He brings you comfort in the form of friends that drop by to give you a word of kindness.

He is good...always!

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancie!

What a wonderful, open and honest post - one of your trademarks. I totally understand about the need to pace yourself!

I made a commitment to blog everyday for one year just so I could become more disciplined in my writing. I don't enjoy handwriting, but I do enjoy typing, so this outlet has proven to be helpful for me in my writing and personal journaling. That commitment won't be over until January 1. There are days when I have more time (not lately, though) and I write in advance to post later. That's become a wonderful tool for me.

Nancie, I'm so thankful the Lord has crossed our paths via TT. I agree with you. It's been valuable in my spiritual growth as well, to see things to be thankful for, not just on Thursday, but everyday.

Thank you for blessing my life. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you dear one! I'm praying for you.

Anonymous said...

Hi Debra, Thanks for stopping by and your kind words of encouragement! Thank God for bringing you and many others to encourage me along this pilgrim journey. Yes, God is good always! May God deepens our love and devotion to Him. Take care and God bless!

Anonymous said...

Hi Marsha, Thanks for your very encouraging comment! I am so thankful too that our Lord has caused our path to cross in such a wonderful way through TT!

It's wonderful that you are able to post daily. I too have problem with handwriting and find typing so much helpful. I enjoyed your posts. Your love for the Lord and sincere desire to walk with Him is so evident through your posts, and it is a great encouragement to me and many others!

May God bless and keep you near to Him, and continue to make you a blessing to many! I thank God upon every remembrance of you and all our dear blogging friends and visitors. Thanks for praying for me. You are in my thoughts and prayers too! Take care and God bless.

Anonymous said...

It was no one else but God that brought me to this blog. I was enlightened, inspired and encouraged by your words. For a while I battled with depression and couldn't really figure out WHAT was I depressed about. After seeking medical advice I found out it was a deficency that I was experiencing. After prescribed medication I am feeling much better. I had been going through this for years and couldn't understand what was going on. God lead me to find the answers and He has orchestrated my recovery. I am not (in my opinion) 100% but with added help through my faith and church activities I am on my way.

I witnessed my brother-in-law's bipolar condition. He was not one of the fortunate ones to become successful in it's management. After much abuse to himself by other means to cope, he died about 3 years ago. I am very interested in what you have to share through your own experiences

Thank you for allowing me this space and your time to read this comment.

Be Blessed
Proverbs 3:5&6

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancie, glad to hear blogging is therapeutic for you :-)

I have to agree with you though. Sometimes it can be very taxing and time consuming. So we have to learn not to over exert ourselves and just blog at our own pace.

Take good care of yourself and always remember that God loves you. Keeping you in my prayers.

Have a blessed week ahead!

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancie,
I agree, blogging is very therapeutic. I don't have a lot of support systems going on right now so i'm really relying on this one. Thanks for commenting on my posts, it really helps me. :)
Jena xoxo

Anonymous said...

Hi Vietta, thank you very much for stopping by and your encouraging comment! Truly it is not by coincidence but by the wonderful providence of God that we should meet in this blogging world! I am thrilled to read that you are a new blogger. I am excited for you as to how the Lord may bless you through blogging and make you a blessing to others too :-)

I am so glad that you are under treatment for depression and feeling so much better now. I too suffered from depression for many years (about 20 years) without knowing what I was going through. It was by God's mercies that I sought medical help in Dec 2006 following a very severe and suicidal depression episode, and am now helped by medication and other helps. In March 2007, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after I had an episode of hypomanic. It was then that I realized I do have had such experiences too over the last 20 years which alternates with my depression.

I am sorry to hear about your brother. I know by experience how difficult it is to live with bipolar disorder and how difficult it can be for carers/family/friend as well. I am thankful to God that He is sustaining me and teaching me to manage this condition so that I can be more functional and serve Him. I am still learning many new things about God's love and sovereignty, the sufficiency of His sustaining grace, and the various helps He has made available for me to manage and live meaningfully with bipolar disorder. I hope my sharing of my journey and God's goodness will help others who may travel the same path, to find hope and help in God and in available means.

I look forward to read your post too! Thanks for reading mine and leaving such an encouraging comment. May God continue to strengthen and restore you, and bless your blogging experiences. I am praying for you! Take care and may God bless you.

Anonymous said...

Dear Nancie,
I've felt the same way and I think the lesson is learning how to pace yourself.

Since, I too, use the computer for my writing, I only spend a minimal amount of time online blogging and reading other blogs. And usually I do it late at night.

The reason is because I don't feel well when I'm on the computer too much. And I don't get the sunlight I need.

So, what I've learned is that I can only read certain blogs. I avoid ones that are depressing. And I can only comment as much as I'm able.

I hope you get well soon and figure out how to pace yourself so this works for you too.

Susan

Anonymous said...

Hi Serendipity, thanks for stopping by and your encouragements! Really appreciate your prayers as I learn not to over exert myself and just blog at my own pace. Great challenge to me but I will look to our Lord :-) Thanks for all your prayers and encouragements. You are in my thoughts and prayers too. Have a blessed week ahead!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jena, so good to hear from you. Thank you for your comment. You are in my thoughts and prayers regularly. I visited your blog this morning and read some of your posts. I will be returning later to read more of your posts and share my thoughts too. I am glad you are finding support through blogging. Thank God for giving you this avenue! It is so precious! May you continue to know God's love and mercies even through His provisions of dear blogging friends. Take care and God bless!

Anonymous said...

Dear Susan, thank you very much for stopping by and your encouragement. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I treasure your sharing very much. I have much to learn from you as always!

I am learning to pace myself more moderately now. Maybe I will have to be more discipline with some kind of a schedule so that I don't get carried away with blogging :-) I enjoyed it so much but know that I might over strain if I spend too much time in front of the computer.

It is wise of you to read only certain blogs and to comment as much as you're able to. I need to learn to do that. The problem with me is that I am so blessed by so many blogs and I love to encourage and support others whenever I can, and so I tend to attempt to visit as many as I can and comment on as many as I can. But now I realize that I really need to understand my limitation and work within that boundary so that I can be more functional and able to encourage and support others for longer period of time! Thanks again for all your visits and encouragements. Take care and God bless!

Anonymous said...

I have learnt so much from other people here in blog land, people i would otherwise not have met.
I also have had to learn to pace myself and do not blog as much as i used to.
Blogging has been a wonderful journey and you just dont know what is round the next courner.
Take care x

Anonymous said...

Hi Casdok, thanks for stopping by. I too have learnt so much from other people here in blog land, people i would otherwise not have met. I am so thankful to have met you and many others to blogging. Yes, do pace yourself moderately. You and C are in my thoughts and prayers. Take care and God bless!

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancie! I'm so glad you're continuing to blog and that it is therapeutic for you. There are so many encouraging and caring bloggers.

I sometimes spend too much time out here and have to "pace" myself too, but I have seen God move in this Christian community and that is an awesome thing.

Anonymous said...

Hi Edie! Thanks for stopping by and your encouragements. Yes, there are indeed many encouraging and caring bloggers, and I so glad to know all of you!

Glad you are pacing yourself :) I know what a great challenge that can be! It is truly encouraging to see the way God is moving in the Christian community and drawing us closer to Him. All praise and glory be to Him! Take care and God bless!

Anonymous said...

Nancie -

Thank you for stopping by to check in on me. My sister has just returned to school - change is always a trigger for her, and I covet your prayers for Nattie.

You are so sweet to send my blog some love and grace. I continue to pray for you daily as you work so hard to recognize your ups and downs and stay on "level ground."

Love,

Abby

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancie!
Like Edie, I'm so glad that you will continue to blog! You are an encourager, encouraging us to draw closer to the Lord & to be bolder in our faith.
Thank you so much Nancie!! :)

Anonymous said...

Blessings Nancie...How GREAT is this for you to free yourself and declare your strengths and what is good for YOU while learning to find a happy balance. I was so delighted to see that many read and commented here! WOW...do you always respond to each commentor! Even that takes time and effort.

This was EXCELLENT in expressing your recuperation and pacing of blogging and work. I was richly blessed as I see and hope others will read from WFW and TT, in what you had to say about them. Even more so, people who read, looking for your source of wellness and
how you recover and cope. I'm glad in the decision that you have decided to continue but pace it!

I know the Lord's hand is upon you and you are being wise and cautious in Him because of what you know! You are such a blessing and God will continue to use YOU as an encourager and blessing to unexpected visitors looking for hope. I'm so glad you feel better and as if you can conquering this
swing from one side to the other!

Please do not comment to me here, you have done more than enough with your recent emails and all your wonderful resources to last a lifetime. I came to see your WFW because I know that you are a day ahead! Beautiful Psalm. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
You are a SMILING angel!

Anonymous said...

Hi Abby, thanks for stopping by. I am remembering Nattie in prayers. Remembering you too in prayers. Take care and God bless!

Hi Diane, thank you very much for stopping by and your very kind words of encouragement! Thank God for the grace He has given us to encourage one another. I am greatly encouraged by you and many other friends I have met through blogging. May God continue to draw us closer to Him. Take care and God bless!

Hi Peggy, thank you for stopping by. Many thanks for your prayers and words of encouragements. I normally am not able to respond individually to comments for WFW and TT because of the volume. I visit my visitors in return. As for other posts, usually I don't have many readers. So I will attempt to respond individually or combined like this whenever I can. When I can't, I just skip. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers! Take care and God bless!

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancie!!

I just wanted to let you know that you are an inspiration and encouragement to me. I've suffered with depression on and off for years--sometimes the depression lasting soooooo long that I wasn't even able to get out of bed for months.

God has picked me up and put me in this place--a place where I know I am cared for and loved by HIM, and only He can fill voids left by others in my life.

Hang in there--you are an inspiration and encouragement to everyone you touch!

Beth

Anonymous said...

Blogging helps me whenever I have time. I enjoy reading your blog.

God is always there for us and remember that.

Jim :)

Anonymous said...

You are such a precious blessing to the blog world, I love you.

Anonymous said...

Hi Beth, thanks for stopping by and your encouragements. So glad that God has delivered you and put you in a place where He cared for you and loved you. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragements! Take care and may God bless you with His joy and peace always.

Thanks, Jim, for stopping by and your encouragement. I enjoy reading your blog too. Thank God that He loves us and He is with us always. Take care and may God bless you.

Thanks, Denise, for all your prayers and encouragements. You are such a blessing to the blogging world too! Love in Christ.