Living Online


Chronic illness has drastically reduced the amount of social contact I have. I rarely get out of the house, and am quickly exhausted when I do. My sleep schedule is mostly nocturnal and fairly erratic which makes it hard to coordinate with others. Furthermore, the unpredictability of my pain makes me unreliable and makes planning ahead difficult.

I’m also struggling with depression. Which makes me not want to see people. Which results in isolation. Which exacerbates the depression. [Later, rinse, repeat] So I need to do something about that. The obvious solution is the internet–blogging and social media are asymmetric (so it accomodates my erratic schedule) and doesn’t require painful physical activity on my part.

The big problem is that it requires me to write. I’ve never been much of a writer (I’ve always been a *reader*). My pain makes it very difficult to summon the concentration to write. Then my meds further cloud my ability to think. And top it off with apathy (courtesy of the depression) which saps all of my motivation and writing becomes a nearly insurmountable challenge.

Nevertheless, I’m making a concerted effort to live online more: to be active in blogging and keeping people up to date with how I’m doing on Twitter and Facebook. This is the next step in my fight against depression. And I’m hoping you guys will come along on the ride.

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