Nothing like children to bring you joy and break your heart, eh? I have been struggling with postnatal depression, and what makes me angrier than anything else is when people try to cheer me up by saying something like, "But you've got a nice house, a beautiful son, a loving husband, and a good life. What have you got to be depressed about?" That just makes it all feel even worse.

I find singing helps like nothing else, and what really does it for me just now is singing harmony on some of the old timey gospel songs with my band. It's one of the most intensely uplifting feelings-- which is a little odd for me because I'm not a believer. But somehow the act of singing these songs can pierce through that little wall I have around me when I am depressed. Maybe it's just that singing harmonies with other people requires a kind of physical and emotional closeness that you don't always get elsewhere. But there's a magic in those songs too-- something that tells you that it's not unnatural to feel the way you do. I guess it's no accident that music and religion are so closely entwined.

Anyway-- yeah, good thread.
B