Exercise & Depression

Yesterday was a truly hellish day. I have monthly reports that are due the first day of each month, and since I've only done them once before, I sort of forgot how to do part of it. And the queue of collectors and the alpha splits were entirely redone, so I spent hours poring over very small print trying to make sure everything got done properly.

I was tired and extremely grouchy. I knew that once I got home I was going to stay there, so I called Joe and let him know that I was going to take my walk before going home. And that's exactly what I did. I got to the mall at 4:15, set the alarm on my cell phone for 5:45, and started walking. I meandered through nearly every store in the mall, looking at cute small-sized clothes, looking at cute shoes and jewelry, looking at housewares, electronics, and accessories. At 5:45, tired and with extremely sore feet (I was wearing grannie boots), I headed home.

This morning I woke up in a beautiful mood! I didn't try to talk myself out of going to work like usual, and when my boss stuck her head in my office this morning to jokingly express her surprise that I showed up today, after such a heinous day yesterday, I was cheerful!

Okay, so this is weird. I have suffered from depression for years, and it has been intense the last few years. My doctor put me on a new med for the depression, and I've been on it for about a month now. I was seeing some improvement, but nothing that impressive. I have read in the past that exercise combined with anti-depressants is supposed to work wonders. Well, if that accounts for how I feel this morning, I'm sold.

My new walking shoes arrived in the mail yesterday, so I brought them along with me. It worked out really well for me to go walking before I went home, and I think I'll keep doing that.

Also, I gathered up my courage and got on the scale this morning. Much to my astonishment, I kept off the weight I lost before Christmas, although I didn't lose any more. So my net weight loss thus far is 10.5 pounds! I'm not doing Weight Watchers anymore--what with Joe doing all the cooking and a tight budget, I decided to let it go. That doesn't mean I'm giving myself blanket permission to eat anything I want; it just means that I'm trying to be sensible and not obsess, and make sure I get plenty of exercise.

Okay, changing topics now. Last night I was watching Nova, and it was an episode about a mummy that had spent some years at a museum in Niagara Falls before being sold to a museum at Emery in Atlanta. It turns out that it is almost certainly the mummy of a pharaoh, and may be the mummy of Rameses I. I was ready to get on a plane to Atlanta to go to the museum until they showed the mummy being flown to Egypt. Joe meandered in partway through the program, and told me that he'd seen that mummy several times, growing up as he did in Buffalo and going to the Falls frequently. I'm so jealous!!! I told Joe that I absolutely must, without fail, go to Egypt, and he told me it's not safe. I then said that I'll go when I'm 90 years old and ready to die anyway, but I am going to go to Egypt sooner or later.