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I wrote recently that I had finally asked the Universe to help lift the cloud of gloom that has always hung over my head. I wrote that I asked for help and it was given to me and I was almost immediately lightened.
Well, the very next week put the lie to all that. The depression came back. I felt gloomy and hopeless. I was creating problems where none existed, then obsessing about those problems. Oh, woe is me, it was back.
Well, here's a little history before I go on. I am not a chocolate junkie. One of my daughters is, but I am not. I have always been able to take it or leave it. If you put a high-quality truffle under my nose, I would most definitely snap it up. But I wouldn't go out in a winter storm to indulge a craving for chocolate truffles.
Recently, however, I became aware that if there was good chocolate in the house (say, if someone gave me a box of very nice chocolates for my birthday), I had no control over my obsession with that chocolate. I found that I awarded myself treats throughout the day. I just put a load of clothes in the washer? Time for a side trip to the kitchen for a reward. I spent an hour writing? Hurrah! Give that girl a chocolate! You get the picture.
In fact, I didn't really need the excuse of a "reward." Just walking past the kitchen counter that held the box of chocolates was reason enough to snake out my hand and take one. This addiction was out of control.
If the chocolate was not in sight, however, I would forget about it and thus not eat it. (This held true only if someone else put it out of sight so that I didn't know where it was.) So I asked my husband to hide the remaining three-quarters of a pound in the basement.
And that's when the depression recurred. I didn't recognize the coincidence myself. I was complaining to my husband that I was severely depressed (telling him mainly so that he could protect himself and stay out of my way). Several hours later he came up to me and held out his right hand, with two beautiful chocolate candies on the palm. I ate them. Several hours later he brought me two more. And by the end of the day my depression was gone.
I know this isn't original. In fact, he got the idea from a recent newspaper item that touted chocolate as an anti-depressant. It might be true, or it might have been from the press release of a Belgian chocolate company. But it seems to have worked.
Ever since, I've been sure to take two chocolate candies a day, simply as a prophylactic measure. I recommend it. Along with asking the Universe for help, of course. A serious depression needs a two-pronged approach.
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