The Panda Bear on Dysthymia and the Fusion of the Personal and Politcal

The Panda Bear will be continuing through what remains of the summer do short blog posts.   The Panda Bear works in an office all day and the evenings are too nice to side inside and write blog posts.

The hypothesis of the Panda Bear Blog is that we live in an overly busy society.  However, the Panda Bear also believes that in this fast paced society that does not give individuals much down time we have to learn to give ourselves breaks.   Therefore, the Panda Bear has to look at herself critically on when she herself contributes to her stress problem.

However, today the Panda Bear is feeling blue today because she has been told she suffers from low grade depression (Dysthymia) and anxiety.  (The Panda Bear always gets more depressed when she finds out she is depressed but does not realize it) The Panda Bear wonders if she did not have these problems would she have the energy to do it all.

Upon further reflection the Panda Bear decides life is not so clear-cut.   The Panda Bear can push herself too hard in a high pressured society.    Writers are often the canary in the coal mine.   Miners used to bring canaries down into the coal mine because canaries were more sensitive to bad air than humans.   If the canary died, it meant the air was not good and the coal miners would leave the mine.   Writers and artists are often the canaries of society.   They are more sensitive to the problems that all individuals face.

The Panda Bear Blog is about the fusion of the personal, political, and economic forces of stress.   It is a blog about an average, benign and fumbling human Panda Bear.