Soccer Brawl, Unfamiliar Players:

Team Players:

a) Frustration (Team F)

b) Depression (Team D)

At this point, team F is winning. A player from team F is running speedily towards the goal post. Oh no, team D players are losing their mind.

Commentator:

"Yes, Yes! A flash of pure inspiration, we've not seen this move since 1970's world cup when Pelé & Rivelino scored 3–1 in favor of Brazil. Look out, look out! Stealing like a thief in the night. Yes, a gift from the gods, he always has been. A magisterial hit! Like Deja Vu, it's happening all over again. Fifa World Cup player of the year? My goodness! This is incredible! He is running towards the gold. And there he goes again, as fast as a hyena. And...and...YES, yes...it's a GOAL!!! Team Frustration has won, and Team Depression is defeated."

* * *

"It is better for one to have been frustrated than to have entered into the deadly grasp of depression"

#Personal Quote #Observation

You see, there's something I have to tell ya--->in life there's just no avoiding frustration. It will come and sit pretty on your doorstep like a lost child looking for a home. And then it will smile at you, until you give in to its smile. And when you finally decide to open your door, it will barge into your home and possibly take over. It will fall like heavy rain, and ruin the crops you've planted. Yes, it will visit you on those days when the sun refuses to rise. Bad-hair days and days when you feel like screaming. Shoe-kicking days and days when your efforts get mindlessly shoved under a pile of garbage. Days when a letter comes in the mail and you have to succumb to its treachery. Or other days when no one seems to agree with you, maybe except the oxygen in your lungs.

On such days, what should you do? You should vent all you want and even throw a tantrum in your room! But there's just one thing you must make sure you never do: never let your frustration give way to depression. Because you have a choice.

The Choice:

Yes, you have a choice. You will always come out of a frustrated moment. There's always a come-back. A return of the Jedi. There's always a light-bulb moment, an "AHA, I can do this again" moment. But I can't promise the same for depression. Depression is like a disease that slowly sucks the life out of you. Causes you to feel alone and useless to the world, when in reality you are the exact opposite...you are a star the world is waiting to see.

Why choose frustration over depression?

There is nothing new under the sun:

"That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun...it has already been in ancient times before us," (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11) ~ someone has been through what you're experiencing, and they won. They won the battle, so you will win too.

We are not immune to the rain:

"...He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust..." (Matthew 5:45) ~ we aren't promised a life with no rain, but we have the power to stop the storm.

We won't always have it our way/the results may not show up on time:

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olives may fail, and the fields yield no fruit...yet, I will rejoice in the Lord," (Habakkuk 3:17) ~but you still can rejoice! As long as you have breath. And as long as there's still potential. To be depressed is to be lied to.

We are never alone:

"Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there...If I say, "surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be a night about me," (Psalm 139)~ God is always there, no matter what you go through, no matter where you make your bed.

I've had my own share of frustrations, times when I've waited for answers and they never came. But I've learned that frustration must never lead to depression. Instead frustration can be a dream-builder, if you fail once you can think of better strategies. But depression on the other hand is a dream-destroyer, vision-killer, and image-eraser.

Do you have any lessons to share about your frustrated moments? Have you had any bad-hair days that turned good in the end? Let's hear it!

Photo by Google.