Chances are you’re not having quite so many devastatingly low days now. You’re functioning a little better overall, but you’re still not ready to run any marathons yet or run for public office. Don’t worry about it – this recovery takes time, and it happens so subtly you may not notice it till someone else points it out. You’re probably still not eager to spend too much time outside your home, but the cyberworld provides many diversions (you can wander around it in your pajamas, and no one will know). I’ve found that things of beauty are both soothing and refreshing at this point, so that’s where we’ll start first.
Art/History
- The best place to start your art cybertour is, of course, the Louvre. There is also a Louvre section at the Web Museum, Paris. This page also provides three tours of Paris.
- Go to Vatican City to see Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
- I loved the PBS series American Visions, and the web site is a well worth a visit.
- The Alexander Palace Time Machine is a well-done virtual tour of the Romanov Dynasty palace, including information about the family.
- The Museum of Fine Arts, one of my favorite places when I lived in Boston, has a website.
- Visit The Chagall Windows, Marc Chagall’s stunning stained-glass windows depicting Jacob’s blessings to his sons, the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
- The Smithsonian Institution
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- Galleria degli Uffizi
- If modern art is your style, go to the Museum of Modern Art’s web page.
- Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall showcases graffiti art.
- Other Worlds: Photography by A. Paul Jenkin is beautiful outdoor and travel photography from around the world.
- Entropy8 is an online gallery.
- The Vincent Van Gogh Information Gallery showcases his paintings and letters.
Fitness (Mental and Physical)
- Paradoxically, it’s during this time when most depressed people are beginning to feel better that some attempt suicide. This is due to the fact that while someone is profoundly depressed, they don’t have the energy or clear mental processes necessary to plan and carry out a suicide. Please remember, if you begin to have suicidal thoughts, that there are people available to help you deal with your feelings. SA\VE – Suicide Awareness\Voices of Education is a web page which provides suicide education and support. See the Suicide Sources section on my web page Wing of Madness: A Depression Guide for more resources.
- The philosophy behind holistic medicine, that we should treat the body as a whole entity instead of just addressing the sick “part”, is appropriate both for treating depression and for this stage in your recovery. De-stressing is important, since it will relieve the depression to some extent. To this end, think about exercising. I know it’s hard to even keep up with normal stuff, but even a half hour walking a few times a week should help. I hate to exercise, but I’ve been forcing myself to do it for the last couple of years since it makes such a difference in whether I slide back into depression during stressful times. Also think about whether you’ve been treating your body well, nutrition-wise.
- Ask Dr Weil: Relaxation has some good suggestions for de-stressing.
- Online Psych on America Online has relaxation moments (you need to be in AOL to use these links):
- Ocean
- Forest
- The Power Walking Home Page discusses power walking (different from “race walking”) as well as providing links to other walking sites.
- If you’re not ready for aerobic exercise yet, get your body ready by doing some stretches. Yoga Central has a lot of good info.
- Online Psych on America Online has relaxation moments (you need to be in AOL to use these links):
- You might be ready to stretch spiritually or rediscover your faith. A great beginning Zen site is White Path Temple, a virtual Shin Buddhist temple. Voice of the Shuttle: Religious Studies Page is a comprehensive page of resources about religion. Interlude: An Internet Retreat is a site with inspirational meditations, prayers and poetry. My favorite is the Native American prayers.
The World Outside
- Castles on the Web is a well-designed site of links to castles all around the world.
- Claude Monet’s Garden, Giverny
- Dale Coyner’s Appalachian Highways might be your cup of tea.
- The Florida Wildflower Showcase, a “meeting place for all who love nature” has an extensive collection of photos of exotic flowers and insects.
- Graham Hawker’s journal of his Journey to Beijing depicts the trip in pictures and text.
- Peeping Tom Home Page is not what it sounds like! This page has links to video cameras all over the world focused on sites of interest (and some which are not of interest). Find your favorites. Earthcam is another cam site that’s very well organized.
- There are some interesting cams at the Discover Channel Online Animal Cams.
- If you have RealAudio, you can listen to live police scanner feeds from Dallas, New York and Los Angeles at PoliceScanner.Com. The page also lists the Dallas PD Signal Codes, as well as related links and newsgroups. The Dallas feed seems to be a little more active.
- Take A Tour of My Garden and look at Cheryl Netter’s beautiful roses.
- Travels with Samantha is Philip Greenspun’s well-written account of his trip through North America. Have some hankies handy for the first chapter, which talks about the death of his beloved Samoyed George – I was sobbing during most of it.
- The Virtual Garden of the New York Botanical Garden
- Web Travel Review focuses on personal first-hand accounts of journeys.
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden
News
You’re probably becoming more interested in what’s going on in the world, even if you’re not quite ready to deal with it face-to-face. Below are some good news sources on the Web.
- CNN
- New York Times
- USA Today
- The Washington Post
Music
- In keeping with this page’s theme of bringing the outside world in to soothe and stimulate you, I highly recommend listening to sounds of nature, either alone or mixed with new-age music. I myself love listening to either the sounds of the ocean, to rain, or a mountain stream (hard to believe I wasn’t born under a water sign!). The Nature Company has some great recordings in their own line, although you can’t order them online.
- Seal is one of my favorite artists. I think he’s a good choice for your frame of mind. Here are some clips from his music in RealAudio:
- Don’t Cry – from Seal (2nd album)
- Prayer for the Dying – from Seal (2nd album)
- Human Beings – from Human Beings
- Sarah McLachlan is another of my favorite musical artists. Her painfully beautiful music and lyrics are a good balance for you right now; not too sad, but not abrasively upbeat.
- Possession – from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
- Building a Mystery – from Surfacing
- I Will Remember You – from Mirrorball
Socializing
- One game, or life simulation, that I have become interested in (okay, addicted to), is Creatures. It’s more complicated than Petz, but when they die (which they do), they’re still not real. Here’s a picture of one sleeping.
- You’re probably not ready to meet people in real life, so how about getting to know some people online? Chelle is an incandescent soul who has created Chelle’s Cozy Corner, a “meandering mix of strange pages”. She raises llamas, creates wonderful web pages and does Innerviews, my favorite of which is Max A’ La Macho. She also has links to many other pages with a mystical, spiritual bent.
- Of course, you should visit the Wing of Madness forum on Delphi.
- All I could say when I visited Kokovoko was “Wow!” It’s truly a visual feast, with just the right words. Go see for yourself.
- The Palace is a graphical chat environment. You can chat as a guest, or join for $25. One of my favorite Palace sites is the Finch Nest (you need the Palace software to visit this link), which has beautiful backgrounds and a good group of people. Here (69k) is a screen capture from a chat last St. Patrick’s Day.
- The WELL is the original online community.
- Bianca: the alternative online community