Frame and depression.

When a man is battling depression, faces will appear wicked and skies will appear dark. This paranoia and pessimism will sink down into his core and sour his being. And to add further to his suffering, his negativity will expel from him and attract surrounding negative attention. The saying “When it rains it pours” has truth. Because a man’s own negativity will attract negativity. His paranoia is a self fulfilled prophecy that further snowballs his bleak mindset.

A man can have frequent battles with a depressed state or he can float through life for decades until it knocks on his door. C.S Lewis spoke on depression saying “Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear…It is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ then to say ‘My heart is broken’” and Kierkegaard who said “In addition to my other numerous acquaintances, I have one more intimate confidant… My depression'“

Depression can sink a man’s spirits into a listless state as Keats himself felt “I am in the temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top”

Many different things can cause depression depending on a man’s circumstances in his life. In this article I’ll mention a few different reasons why depression can creep into a man’s consciousness.

One reason for depression is when a man has unutilized energy. This can occur when a man hasn’t expelled the bodily energy that is stored within him. This unused energy will stagnate and create a feeling of negativity. The easiest way to battle a bleak mind is to sweat off the blues. If a man is eating junk food all day on the couch while binge watching TV, he shouldn’t be surprised when his body becomes filled with a negative spirit. Turning off the TV, putting down the potato chips and exercising is a basic mood enhancer. If a man has a bleak mindset that has spiraled into despair, he should first speak to himself like this:

Voice one puts gun to head “I want to kill myself”

Voice two “Why don’t you try something before you pull the trigger?”

Voice one “Like what?”

Voice two “You can stop drinking alcohol for a couple weeks and see how it goes…”

Voice one “Okay… good idea”

*Two weeks pass

Voice one “Still want to kill myself”

Voice two “Okay, why don’t you try something different”

Voice one puts noose around his neck “Huh? Like what?”

Voice two “Hold on cowboy! Not yet, why don’t we try exercising everyday for a couple weeks.”

Voice one takes off noose “Okay… we’ll see how it goes”

*Two weeks pass

Voice one stands on ledge of building “Gonna jump, nothing is working”

Voice two “Wait, wait don’t smear the pavement just yet… Why don’t you try to get better rest, and we’ll see how it goes after a couple weeks? I see that you are only running on a couple hours a sleep a night”

Voice one steps back sleepy eyed “Okay, maybe we can look up some ways to get better sleep…”

*Two weeks pass

Voice one “Do you feel that breeze?”

Voice two “Hell yea! It feels good doesn’t it?”

Voice one “And that sunshine? That sun never felt so good on my skin!”

Voice two “Life is grand, isn’t it?”

Voice one walks into street “It sure is”

*Bus hit them and killed them both.

End of story -

Let us dive deeper into the rationale so we can understand how depression develops in the spirit. A man has a internal fortitude that either increases or decreases. When a man relies on himself for comfort and emotional validation increases this internal fortitude. The more a man relies on others for his emotional well being, the weaker his internal fortitude will be.

For example, take a common problem with teenagers but especially teenage girls with social media. They will post an image of themselves and will obsessively look at their phone for approval of their appearance. Let us walk through this rationale with a scene:

Teen girl named “Liz” posts selfie on social media and looks at phone. She looks down at her image that she posted and smiles to herself. She knows that she looks cute and that the new dress she is wearing will get a comment. Liz puts down her phone and makes a sandwich. After eating half the sandwich because she doesn’t want to get fat, she returns to her phone to check her post. It doesn’t have any likes. She looks down and notices that it was posted ten minutes ago. She wonders why she hasn’t gotten any likes. “Am I ugly?” She wonders while noticing a small reddish mark on her face in the photo. The reddish mark is barely visible. “Is it a zit?” She wonders running to the mirror in the bathroom to peer at the mark on her face. There is no red mark in the mirror. “Maybe it was just a glare or a temporary hive…” She puzzles with her phone in her hand as she looks down at the post. Still no likes on her post. She begins to doubt herself and worry “Maybe I should just delete the post?” She thinks. And then a like pops up on her post. That makes her feel better. She looks at other peoples posts, her friend “Grace” has a post with ten likes. “She isn’t any prettier” Liz scoffs to herself as she looks as her post. It still only has one like and it is from her Aunt. This makes Liz fill with anxiety as she begins to further doubt herself.

End story -

Okay, I could have kept writing that one on and on, but we know how it will snowball. Liz is putting too much stock in emotional validation from others. Everyone is susceptible to this but especially women since they are collectivists. Liz feels like a stand up comic who told a joke and heard crickets. Her being felt invisible which made her become anxious and depressed. This behavior can happen to anyone. What Liz is wanting is validation of her ego and the dopamine hit when others validate her. But if others do not validate her then she is deprived of approval of her ego and the dopamine hit that accompanies it.

When a man relies to heavily on external mechanisms for keeping himself strong, he shouldn’t be surprised when his circus tent flattens when the tentpoles he relies on are removed. For example if a man is an alcoholic, porn addict, weed smoker and social media fiend, he has built up this external reward system that he will rely on for daily support. If he stops them all cold turkey then his reward center will be deprived and he’ll have to fight through a void of suffering. These external rewards are like crutches for a injured man, when the crutches are abandoned, the man falls. The more a man relies on crutches the more atrophied his muscles will be and the harder it will be for him to be without them. When a man gives up his “frame crutches”, he’ll feels like a man in physical therapy rebuilding the muscles in his body while in pain.

But guess what? If the man endures long enough without the frame crutches he will become stronger in his internal fortitude. He will have trained in himself in self dependency and be mentally stable without outside help.

A man’s life will have ups and downs.

For every good day there’ll be a bad one soon enough.

And when a man finds himself in a bad day, he can apply the same rationale while he hugs the mast of his ship during the storms of his life.

What if a man feels that the world is wicked and becomes depressed for that reason?

First he should examine himself. Because most times a man’s outlook is based on his own moral system just as the thief fears thievery. Is he himself “Wicked”? Or does he surround himself with friends of low moral quality? These could effect a man’s mind and create depression within him.

What can he do?

He can build self respect by improving his own moral character and choosing better associates. I work on my own moral character and helping pass frame helps me with my own conscience. That has vastly improved my outlook as I no longer see the world as enemy but rather, as in need of help. Hopefully this article has given you some benefit to your own mindset.

Pick up, carry and pass frame.