I hear a lot of people say, ‘I wish I could do nothing all day.  I’m so busy.  I really need a lazy day.’  But my question is ‘Do they really mean nothing?’  For some doing nothing might mean not getting dressed all day, watching a movie and catching up on some housework and for others it means doing some gardening, spending time with the kids/ grandchildren and getting an early night.  However for a stereotypical depressed person doing nothing all day means simply that – doing nothing ie lazing in bed or watching tv all day.

However, as in all spheres of life, not everyone is a stereotype. Thus for some depressed people even though they are doing something (eg working in a stressful job, meeting up with friends) it feels like they are doing nothing because they don’t have the koi-uch – the strength, the energy, to fully take part in the activity.

At the moment I am not doing a lot and although doing nothing might sound like some people’s dream, honestly it’s not.  I have come to the conclusion that with a marginalised cognitive function it is difficult for me to do most things eg to have an idea of what needs to take place when my children come home from school; to make a decision as to watch a tv programme to watch or to read a book and to take it in.  I do these things but I now realise that it isn’t in the same way that other people do them and therefore it feels like I am doing nothing.

Most people don’t really want to do absolutely nothing – because really they want to be productive and to go to bed and say ‘I did bla bla today’.  If you can’t say these things to yourself, for whatever reason, you start to feel depressed and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle becoming harder and harder to get out of.  And on top of that a depressed person has to also deal with whatever is ailing them in the first place (eg stress overload, a psychological reaction to a difficult childhood, etc or having an oddball cognitive function like me).  And therefore just ‘snapping right out of it’ is like some sort of mysterious fairy tale that you have only heard about in books and the movies.  So, if and when I get better, I will revel in the fact that I am doing nothing, because actually I will know that doing nothing is actually quite a lot of something.

In other news

It’s is going to take the signatures of three doctors for me to get hold of the medicine which Doctor Second Opinion prescribed me.  Doctor Second Opinion needs write to by NHS neurologist explaining why he thinks I need this medication. The NHS neurologist will be able state that I need this medication which will mean that I do not have to pay for it privately. However, neurologists these days don’t actually prescribe medications – they prefer, I presume for budgetary reasons, to send a letter to GPs asking them to prescribe it.  So perhaps by next week my GP would have got this letter and I will be prescribed this elusive medication which may or may not help me.

Although I may think I am doing nothing, I could also argue that I am chillaxing after a hard few months of carrying out an extensive project entitled ‘the investigation into my mind’.  I’ve consulted with neurologists, psychiatrists, neuropsychiatrists, facebook groups and google and might soon have a conclusion to my project.  However, I have decided that I am not going to write this blog as regularly as I have been because I am worried that one week I will have nothing to say and I don’t want to witter on about simply nothing. But next week I will definitely write and because I know that I have something to say and of course I will still keep you updated on my journey, but just on a more sporadic basis.