Depression is a hell of a thing.  It really and truly is.  It is something we all go through at one point or another in our life, that is just a fact.  No matter how great things are for you or how happy you should be, there will be those times when depression just punches you in the gut.  Inescapable fact.  This is not meant to be a bitch-fest on my end.  It's not, this is actually meant to be an uplifting post but to get there you need a little backstory on me.

I think I suffer from depression.  'Think' is the key word because I have never gone to a doctor to be diagnosed, partially because I'm afraid to hear results.  I don't know which would be worse, being told I am clinically depressed or told I'm not.  This is not a cry for attention or help.  I have never hurt myself, nor would I.  I don't have it in me.  But there is this dull ache always with me that I've never been able to shake.  There are times it is worse and I don't feel like even getting out of bed in the morning and doing anything is a fight.

I have struggled with this since I was a teenager.  Now really, I have no reason to be depressed.  I don't.  I have a great job, family, friends, etc...  I have the normal worries of about anyone.  Money, romance, the future and what have you.  For some reason the bad has always been able to get me more down than the good can uplift me.  It feels like sometimes there is a weight on my chest and it is constantly pushing down to the point I can't take it.

Now you are wondering, what does this have to do with 'Community.'  I'm getting to it, hold your horses.  The reason I have always loved movies, tv, video games, books and everything else is because it offers me an escape from me.  I know that is the point of a lot of media, but it has always been a way for me to cope with how I feel.  More often than not though they offer only a brief reprise from me and then that depression comes creeping back in.

OK, here comes 'Community.'  As of the last few months things have been seem to be getting more sever when it comes to my feelings.  I'm not going to get into why though.  I'm already spilling my guts on a silly little blog, I need to keep back just a little.  Suffice to say, I don't talk about my problem very often.  That's no one's fault, just the way I am, I tend to keep things in.  As of a couple of weeks ago I kind of felt like I hit rock bottom.  It was then I just popped in my 'Community: Season 1' DVD.  I needed some noise before all those thoughts in my head drove me crazy.  Then something happened, I felt better.  I sat and watched the entire first season in one sitting.  I found as I kept watching it kept helping me more and more.  It wasn't that it made me forget my problems, it just seriously made me feel better.  It raised my spirits.  The emotional stuff really tugged at me, in a good way, and the comedy really gave me a lift.  The great thing was, it actually kind of stuck.  That funk kind of lifted away and not for just a minute or two.

I have watched the first season a couple of times before this but for some reason in my pool of misery and self-pity the entire show took on a different meaning for me.  A day hasn't gone by since that I haven't watched at least one episode, sometimes it is as simple as putting it on when I am falling asleep at night.

Now I'm not saying 'Community' cured me of my depression, it didn't save my life and it didn't fix all my problems.  What it has done though has kept a smile on my face, even when it's hard.  It has helped replace that dull ache in my chest with laughter.  Sometimes the simplest things can have the most profound effect on people.  So to the cast and crew of 'Community' I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you do, you keep us entertained which sometimes is all it takes.

Abed dancing, just try and not smile watching this.