Slough of Despond

Wading through the black slime of one of my periodic depressions at the moment. This habitually takes the form of spending large parts of the day in bed asleep, seeking relief in dreams. I know I should get off my chuff and go and do some gardening or go out for a walk but it all seems so pointless really. The outside world is noisy and chaotic and full of hateful people; if I go out I will be exposed to all of it. So I'll stay in my shell for a little. The feeling usually passes after a few days, it's like having a cold. Sometimes it's brought on by work, too much of other people coming at me demanding things, being on my feet all day with not enough rest, and changes in everything. We had a little article the other day in our in-house work magazine about welcoming change. It was so patronizing, it made me spit! Apparently, it's all our own fault for having the wrong attitude, blah blah bloody blah. No. Rejection of change is a survival mechanism, long hardwired into us. Look at animals; does your cat or dog like change? No. Change is threatening and dangerous, it means an organism is now going to have to put in a lot of energy to adapt to a new situation, energy that could have been more usefully employed to maintain a pleasant holding pattern of existence. No where do the powers that be (employers, politicians) admit that constant change is not good for us, especially when we have no control over what form that change may take. I'm fairly convinced that one of the reasons for the spiralling rates of depression in the first-world countries is due to the constant change we are bombarded with daily, as well as the daily diet of bad news and just plain lies coming from the media.
    Went to my local fish n'chippie last night and he was closed! I hope not for good, and I hope nothing has happened to him or his family. I've been going there for 12 years now; he makes great fish and chips and good hamburgers too. There's a Chinese takeaway next door, but I will not have Chinese takeaway, no way; I've known several people made seriously ill from eating food prepared by Chinese. And it's just boiled rice or noodles and veg. with a bit of meat - you could make it yourself at home for a fraction of the price and without the need to play Russian roulette with your gut. Or Chinese roulette, perhaps.
 Well, I've reached the end of my rant. Better feelings tomorrow, maybe.