Last night, my better half V. told me she was feeling depressed. As she lay in bed she was telling me how she is feeling down.
About four months ago she finished work to look after my father who is eighty seven. He has been in hospital a couple of times this year and is not managing on his own. Before V agreed to this she knew that where she was working was going to close due to a takeover and she would be out of a job. So to finish and look after my dad seemed a good idea at the time. Now she is missing the banter of the job, the social contact - there’s not much banter from my dad. However she does get around. She takes him shopping once a week. She takes him to the doctors and the warfarin clinic regularly.
Also it’s that time of year, and her hormones are playing up.
I have suggested maybe we should take up a hobby. Maybe ballroom dancing, I have two left feet and it would be a challenge! But she said that with her knees, bad back and excessive weight she would not be able to cope.

The problem is, when she gets depressed I am so empathic that I try my best to cheer her up, I don’t succeed, I can still sense the underlying sadness in her heart and the I get depressed myself.
All the time I am at work I feel as though I should be with her. I think of her all the time and feel so helpless.

I am not just depressed but stressed and depressed.
I feel like saying to her that she should pull her finger out and stop feeling sorry for herself and get on with life. But I think that would probably make her worse.