Depression and the Software Developer: The Last Straw
Here’s a story I’ve been keeping on the back burner for almost a year now. I haven’t published it until now, because it still hit too close to home. But this week, I’ve scheduled an interview with Sharon Cathcart, author of In the Eye of the Beholder, which I am currently reading, and a memoir [...]
When Nothing Goes the Way It Ought
This past week, I asked on Facebook, “When NOTHING seems to be going as it should, how do you avoid getting all negative?”
My Facebook friends gave me a number of possible answers, but nothing really hit home, this past Saturday morning in synagogue when we read a selection from First Samuel chapter 1. Suddenly, my [...]
Why Are We So Unhappy Having All These Things?
One of my daughters today was approaching tears, when I almost blew up at her. I didn’t actually yell at her, I hope, but I felt my temperature and voice rising in unison.
She was upset, because we didn’t have an extra pool pass, so that she could go to the community pool party today, which [...]
Stories to Evoke Fear; Stories to Inspire Love
This is part 2 of my story of being subjected to the “texting while driving” video making the rounds, the kind of unintended effects videos like this can have, and why the alternative is so much more satisfying.
To sum up from yesterday, a friend of mine posted on Facebook the “texting while driving” video, which [...]
WARNING: Be Inspired Rather than Subjected to the “Texting while Driving” Video
I was going to write about something else today, but now I’ve forgotten what it is.
Instead, I’m going to talk about a personally traumatic experience. Because I was one of the people today subjected to the “texting while driving” video that’s been making the rounds.
I say “subjected to,” because I had not heard of it [...]
A Prayer for the Depressed
Today, for Wishcasting Wednesday, Jamie Ridler asks, “What do you wish to make room for?” Like most people, I have so much stuff, both physically and figuratively, it’s hard to make room for anything. But what I really want to make room for today is the following blog post, which I’ve wanted to write. But [...]
Hope through Feelings of Hopelessness
I’ve been updating my software-development résumé, trying some different things in hopes of finding a reasonably productive SD gig. Along the way, I think I may rub a few people wrong, but I think it’s for the best. Because it’s the only way I know to ultimately accomplish my goals.
There’s something about the truly great [...]
Depression and the Software Developer (part 3)
(This is a continuation from part 2 of “Depression and the Software Developer”.)
[Note: This is a recounting of an experience from several years ago. Read the story from the beginning in order to catch up.]
According to psychologist Joe Griffin, the cycle of depression starts when innate needs are not being met. Among these are a [...]
Depression and the Software Developer (Part 2)
(This is a continuation from part 1 of “Depression and the Software Developer”.)
If one of the most powerful weapons against depression is hope, one of its most powerful fuels is hopelessness.
I attacked my next job with gusto and enthusiasm. The company had previously outsourced a project to an offshore contractor, and now that the fit [...]
Depression and the Software Developer
Knowing what I know now, I wonder how I avoided depression for as long as I did:
Stress causes depression.
Perfectionists are more prone to depression.
Isolation reinforces depression.
As a software developer, those frequently go along with the job description. Seasonal Affective Disorder has gotten the rap for at least some of the funk, because many software guys [...]