How to live in a bubble

When I was a minor drinking was for gaff parties and not mundane ventures on Dublin Bus, what has changed in those few short years? The bus was noisy, chaotic and some schmad lad teenybopper sat beside me to go chat up the college kid across the aisle from me, spilling a bottle of miller and saturating my backpack as he failed. Why are other people such a pain in the ass to be around? Why is their happiness enough to piss me off? It's not because of anything they did - on a good day I'd find teenage pick-up lines hilariously idiotic - but because I was having an off day and I didn't want to know that I cohabitate this country with absolute morons.

There are two obvious points to be made: (1) Hey everybody! Alcohol is a depressant - AVOID AT ALL COSTS (especially on anti-depressants because you will break your liver); (2) Sometimes the world outside your bed can change your mood without having anything to do with your life.

Guess which one I'm gonna talk about? ALCOHOL IS BAD KIDS - STAY IN SCHOOL!!! Just kidding, that would make me a hypocrite. It's the assholes we share the planet with that really matters to me. Here's the trick - turn off the radio! Stop watching current affairs on TV and ignore those ghost stories on Facebook. If the world outside gets you down you can avoid the bits that are irrelevant to you. Easier said than done, eh? People start stories and I have to shut them out. Sometimes I feign total apathy when friends of friends ask me if I'm up-to-date on the Gaza situation. This may all come across as complete ignorance but guess what?! I need to mind my health, including my mental well-being, and the bad guys with guns don't help me face the day.

So what do you turn to? The silence is deafening in the darkness of depression... I do different things. Lyric FM is a great radio station for easy, night-time listening. DVDs of comedies run constantly in my bedroom and I have a very solid sound system to boot. I've taken to recording my TV shows on UPC so that I miss all of those Oxfam Africa appeals and any news reports that make my stomach churn (and of course a lot of you already avoid that watching online). My friends all know that I don't have a clue about anything outside of my bubble and they're happy to leave it that way because they love me and wanna get me back to my old giggly self.

And here's another idea: take up a hobby. Something simple that requires no thought. Play a sport. Walk a dog. Make loom bands! It doesn't matter what you do, just do something when the silence echoes. Personally, I prefer to sleep but that's not actually that healthy either... And hey, if all else fails, come read a blog, write a tweet or send an e-mail! I'm all ears (eyes really...).

Thanks for reading my football avoiding rant,
depressivedetails@gmail.com