Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

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Marky Dread
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:58pm
Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:45pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:34pm
Kory wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 7:17pm
I live in a world of endless low-mid level depression/negativity that is sometimes punctuated by a minute or two of feeling ok about life, which then dissipates as quickly as it arrived. I guess I'm just used to it but maybe I should take something. I've never talked to a dr about it or anything.
This might be my norm—I dunno. It depends on what happiness feels like. I feel like I'm mostly in a place of "contentedness," inasmuch as I'm okay with my limitations and missed opportunities. I mostly manage my insecurities, tho if I'm taken out of my zone I can hit anxiety mode pretty quickly. But is that just normalization of moderate depression or genuine satisfaction? I honestly can't say whether things could be noticeably better.
There is no real barometer of "happiness" though, is there? I think a lot of people could fit into your description above, myself included.

One of my favourite Shane MacGowan lyrics is "I've been in a palace and I've been in a jail, I just don't wanna be reborn a snail." I always think of that line when I'm feeling low. Shit could be a lot worse. But real clinical depression has fortunately never crossed my door.
That's just it. I know it can be worse, because I've been there many times. But can it be better? I have no idea. I'd hate to think that I'm happy and don't know it because, Jesus, it doesn't feel *that* great.
I really like the quote from the 1963 children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. "Happiness isn't always the best way to be happy". This kind of resonates with me.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Marky Dread wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:08pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:58pm
Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:45pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:34pm
Kory wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 7:17pm
I live in a world of endless low-mid level depression/negativity that is sometimes punctuated by a minute or two of feeling ok about life, which then dissipates as quickly as it arrived. I guess I'm just used to it but maybe I should take something. I've never talked to a dr about it or anything.
This might be my norm—I dunno. It depends on what happiness feels like. I feel like I'm mostly in a place of "contentedness," inasmuch as I'm okay with my limitations and missed opportunities. I mostly manage my insecurities, tho if I'm taken out of my zone I can hit anxiety mode pretty quickly. But is that just normalization of moderate depression or genuine satisfaction? I honestly can't say whether things could be noticeably better.
There is no real barometer of "happiness" though, is there? I think a lot of people could fit into your description above, myself included.

One of my favourite Shane MacGowan lyrics is "I've been in a palace and I've been in a jail, I just don't wanna be reborn a snail." I always think of that line when I'm feeling low. Shit could be a lot worse. But real clinical depression has fortunately never crossed my door.
That's just it. I know it can be worse, because I've been there many times. But can it be better? I have no idea. I'd hate to think that I'm happy and don't know it because, Jesus, it doesn't feel *that* great.
I really like the quote from the 1963 children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. "Happiness isn't always the best way to be happy". This kind of resonates with me.
Yeah, I like that, or at least think I understand it.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:58pm
Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:45pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:34pm
Kory wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 7:17pm
I live in a world of endless low-mid level depression/negativity that is sometimes punctuated by a minute or two of feeling ok about life, which then dissipates as quickly as it arrived. I guess I'm just used to it but maybe I should take something. I've never talked to a dr about it or anything.
This might be my norm—I dunno. It depends on what happiness feels like. I feel like I'm mostly in a place of "contentedness," inasmuch as I'm okay with my limitations and missed opportunities. I mostly manage my insecurities, tho if I'm taken out of my zone I can hit anxiety mode pretty quickly. But is that just normalization of moderate depression or genuine satisfaction? I honestly can't say whether things could be noticeably better.
There is no real barometer of "happiness" though, is there? I think a lot of people could fit into your description above, myself included.

One of my favourite Shane MacGowan lyrics is "I've been in a palace and I've been in a jail, I just don't wanna be reborn a snail." I always think of that line when I'm feeling low. Shit could be a lot worse. But real clinical depression has fortunately never crossed my door.
That's just it. I know it can be worse, because I've been there many times. But can it be better? I have no idea. I'd hate to think that I'm happy and don't know it because, Jesus, it doesn't feel *that* great.
I suppose it can be better than this because I get flashes of it once in a while, but they never last more than a couple minutes. It's not great, more just like "better than usual." My mom has said to me often "why are you like this?" I do feel guilty for being this way knowing that lots of people have it worse but being any other way is even more physically exhausting.
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Marky Dread
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:14pm
Marky Dread wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:08pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:58pm
Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:45pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:34pm


This might be my norm—I dunno. It depends on what happiness feels like. I feel like I'm mostly in a place of "contentedness," inasmuch as I'm okay with my limitations and missed opportunities. I mostly manage my insecurities, tho if I'm taken out of my zone I can hit anxiety mode pretty quickly. But is that just normalization of moderate depression or genuine satisfaction? I honestly can't say whether things could be noticeably better.
There is no real barometer of "happiness" though, is there? I think a lot of people could fit into your description above, myself included.

One of my favourite Shane MacGowan lyrics is "I've been in a palace and I've been in a jail, I just don't wanna be reborn a snail." I always think of that line when I'm feeling low. Shit could be a lot worse. But real clinical depression has fortunately never crossed my door.
That's just it. I know it can be worse, because I've been there many times. But can it be better? I have no idea. I'd hate to think that I'm happy and don't know it because, Jesus, it doesn't feel *that* great.
I really like the quote from the 1963 children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. "Happiness isn't always the best way to be happy". This kind of resonates with me.
Yeah, I like that, or at least think I understand it.
Oddly enough whenever I see that quote it for some reason reminds me of Mark Hollis and Talk Talk's music. There is something resplendent yet melancholic going on there.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:58pm
Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:45pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:34pm
Kory wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 7:17pm
I live in a world of endless low-mid level depression/negativity that is sometimes punctuated by a minute or two of feeling ok about life, which then dissipates as quickly as it arrived. I guess I'm just used to it but maybe I should take something. I've never talked to a dr about it or anything.
This might be my norm—I dunno. It depends on what happiness feels like. I feel like I'm mostly in a place of "contentedness," inasmuch as I'm okay with my limitations and missed opportunities. I mostly manage my insecurities, tho if I'm taken out of my zone I can hit anxiety mode pretty quickly. But is that just normalization of moderate depression or genuine satisfaction? I honestly can't say whether things could be noticeably better.
There is no real barometer of "happiness" though, is there? I think a lot of people could fit into your description above, myself included.

One of my favourite Shane MacGowan lyrics is "I've been in a palace and I've been in a jail, I just don't wanna be reborn a snail." I always think of that line when I'm feeling low. Shit could be a lot worse. But real clinical depression has fortunately never crossed my door.
That's just it. I know it can be worse, because I've been there many times. But can it be better? I have no idea. I'd hate to think that I'm happy and don't know it because, Jesus, it doesn't feel *that* great.
I suppose it can be better than this because I get flashes of it once in a while, but they never last more than a couple minutes. It's not great, more just like "better than usual." My mom has said to me often "why are you like this?" I do feel guilty for being this way knowing that lots of people have it worse but being any other way is even more physically exhausting.
All I can say is to try not to feel guilty. A friend once sent me a link to a piece that theorized that depression is an evolutionary defence/warning that, "Hey, what you're doing ain't good for you!" Maybe. But if you're feeling like crap as a rule, that's legit, even if there are people who have it worse. Hell, one of the common features of depression is to minimize it by saying other people have it worse. It's a way of denying it rather than embracing it.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

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Marky Dread wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:16pm
Oddly enough whenever I see that quote it for some reason reminds me of Mark Hollis and Talk Talk's music. There is something resplendent yet melancholic going on there.
It's such a curious thing to see Talk Talk—the latter period, that is—described as melancholy. I mean, yeah, it isn't uptempo energy and all, but I've always found it uplifting. There's a fundamental hopefulness to it all. I'd be cool with having Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock played at my funeral just to say, no worries, it's okay.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

revbob
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:35pm
... one of the common features of depression is to minimize it by saying other people have it worse. It's a way of denying it rather than embracing it.
My wife falls into this camp. She had a really hard upbringing so she cant understand how someone can be depressed when they have a place to live, food on the table etc. Her stance is you don't have it hard enough if you had to go hungry a few days a week didnt have shoes and your parents beat you then you have something to be depressed about. So when I tell her I'm depressed she just kind of looks at me askew.

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

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Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:33pm
I really hope all my good friends on here find the right medical solutions to their ailments cos you all deserve the best of lives.
I, too, hope that you get that kiss thing figured out one of these days.
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Heston »

Flex wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 10:20pm
Heston wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 8:33pm
I really hope all my good friends on here find the right medical solutions to their ailments cos you all deserve the best of lives.
I, too, hope that you get that kiss thing figured out one of these days.
:lol:
There's a tiny, tiny hopeful part of me that says you guys are running a Kaufmanesque long con on the board

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

revbob wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:44pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:35pm
... one of the common features of depression is to minimize it by saying other people have it worse. It's a way of denying it rather than embracing it.
My wife falls into this camp. She had a really hard upbringing so she cant understand how someone can be depressed when they have a place to live, food on the table etc. Her stance is you don't have it hard enough if you had to go hungry a few days a week didnt have shoes and your parents beat you then you have something to be depressed about. So when I tell her I'm depressed she just kind of looks at me askew.
And, well, she has a solid point. I can't deny that, materially, most of the world's population does have it noticeably worse than me. But to say, in essence, get over it, is to deny the complexity of our brains. Pretty much every person dealing with depression issues would love to snap their fingers and get over it. That we aren't should be accepted that there's something more there, that it's a condition as much as blindness or asthma is. You can work around it and fake and all that, but that's often about making other people feel comfortable. Which, yeah, is something we know we should do, but let's be honest about it all.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 10:25pm
revbob wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:44pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:35pm
... one of the common features of depression is to minimize it by saying other people have it worse. It's a way of denying it rather than embracing it.
My wife falls into this camp. She had a really hard upbringing so she cant understand how someone can be depressed when they have a place to live, food on the table etc. Her stance is you don't have it hard enough if you had to go hungry a few days a week didnt have shoes and your parents beat you then you have something to be depressed about. So when I tell her I'm depressed she just kind of looks at me askew.
And, well, she has a solid point. I can't deny that, materially, most of the world's population does have it noticeably worse than me. But to say, in essence, get over it, is to deny the complexity of our brains. Pretty much every person dealing with depression issues would love to snap their fingers and get over it. That we aren't should be accepted that there's something more there, that it's a condition as much as blindness or asthma is. You can work around it and fake and all that, but that's often about making other people feel comfortable. Which, yeah, is something we know we should do, but let's be honest about it all.
Yeah and is most other cases she is very scientific with her approach but for mental health issues her viewpoint is less, in my opinion rational. I've had discussions with her and she ultimately brings it back to her experiences which I say because everyone is different it isn't an apples to apples discussion. So in the end I can't really discuss these things with her.

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

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Just a curiosity, but I wonder whether depression is connected to our very unusual and "unnatural" state of abundance. All species, including humans until a few centuries ago, live with scarcity of food as the norm. Survival is the real ongoing struggle. Humans (as a whole) broke that cycle and now have more food than they no what to do with, mostly have secure shelter, and accumulate for luxury purposes. Totally foreign to how we evolved over millennia. Does that condition mess with the brains of some of us because we're not hardwired to abundance? I dunno—just spitballin' based on revbob's comment about how his wife prioritizes suffering, where those materially deprived have more claim to depression than those in abundance.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:38pm
Marky Dread wrote:
05 Mar 2019, 9:16pm
Oddly enough whenever I see that quote it for some reason reminds me of Mark Hollis and Talk Talk's music. There is something resplendent yet melancholic going on there.
It's such a curious thing to see Talk Talk—the latter period, that is—described as melancholy. I mean, yeah, it isn't uptempo energy and all, but I've always found it uplifting. There's a fundamental hopefulness to it all. I'd be cool with having Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock played at my funeral just to say, no worries, it's okay.
It's not a lyrical thing as those are uplifting but it's in Mark's voice there is a sadness and melancholia to it. There is a feel of pathos to it.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Marky Dread
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Mar 2019, 7:36am
Just a curiosity, but I wonder whether depression is connected to our very unusual and "unnatural" state of abundance. All species, including humans until a few centuries ago, live with scarcity of food as the norm. Survival is the real ongoing struggle. Humans (as a whole) broke that cycle and now have more food than they no what to do with, mostly have secure shelter, and accumulate for luxury purposes. Totally foreign to how we evolved over millennia. Does that condition mess with the brains of some of us because we're not hardwired to abundance? I dunno—just spitballin' based on revbob's comment about how his wife prioritizes suffering, where those materially deprived have more claim to depression than those in abundance.
You raise a very valid point that this could be part of our own conditioning. I don't think it's such a case of those with or without to have any greater claim as you could have very little or everything in life but then lose a loved one and depression can strike both equally as hard.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Return of the Mighty Observations Thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Marky Dread wrote:
06 Mar 2019, 9:43am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Mar 2019, 7:36am
Just a curiosity, but I wonder whether depression is connected to our very unusual and "unnatural" state of abundance. All species, including humans until a few centuries ago, live with scarcity of food as the norm. Survival is the real ongoing struggle. Humans (as a whole) broke that cycle and now have more food than they no what to do with, mostly have secure shelter, and accumulate for luxury purposes. Totally foreign to how we evolved over millennia. Does that condition mess with the brains of some of us because we're not hardwired to abundance? I dunno—just spitballin' based on revbob's comment about how his wife prioritizes suffering, where those materially deprived have more claim to depression than those in abundance.
You raise a very valid point that this could be part of our own conditioning. I don't think it's such a case of those with or without to have any greater claim as you could have very little or everything in life but then lose a loved one and depression can strike both equally as hard.
Oh certainly—I wasn't thinking so much of how we grieve and the long-lasting effects of that kind of loss, but those of us who live in relative comfort, who, materially, have little to complain about, yet deep down can't match that up to a sense of self-worth. Is depression fundamentally an illness of modern life and privilege? (Or, as They Might Be Giants put it, alienation's for the rich.)
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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