Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Dealing with Depression: Accept the Loss

"I'm a fixer; I'm a problem solver," says Cathy. "That's what I do for a living—solve people's problems. Now, for the first time in my life, something had come up that I couldn't handle. There was no way I could fix it."

You are not going to "fix" what you lost. Neither will you "solve" your depression. Instead, you must accept it.

Dr. Archibald Hart says, "You have to move toward accepting the loss. Many people perpetuate their depression because they won't let go of a loss. The purpose of depression is to bring you to the place of letting go. In order to get to the place of letting go, you have to come to accept the reality of the loss."

Go down your list of losses. Say these words out loud for each loss, "I have lost this. I accept that this is no longer a reality for my life." Accept that you have lost each one. Every day you may need to pray that God will show you a new loss that you had not thought of before. Be thorough in your grieving, and be sure to face one loss at a time, taking as much time as you need for each loss. Some losses will be more difficult to accept than others.

"I cry out, 'My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!'" (Lamentations 3:18 NLT).

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