Hi everyone

Have you ever listened to some of Bill Cosby's old comedy routines?  They are hilarious.  This Bill Cosby skit on youtube is about grandparents.  There is a part I still remember from all these years about him talking about his mother using the term "sick and tired" and how the word tired always followed the word sick.  Watch the whole thing...it is well worth it and that part is near the end.

It is true isn't it?  Tired usually does follow Sick. 

Sick and tired can mean so many things:

I am sick and tired of this situation.

I am sick and tired of depression.

One can be sick and tired of their job, people, and endless frustrations. 

The phrase can also mean that one is physically sick and also fatigued. 

It can also mean that you are mentally unwell and tired. 

Or it can mean all of the above at once.  In that case you are in very bad shape indeed.

Today I am sick with a cold/virus and tired (my body is fatigued). 

But I feel mentally well.

What are the chances of this happening?

I don't get sick like this very often.  Yet it seems when I do, I always feel pretty good emotionally.  I am not sure why.  Maybe it is because my mind slows down and it can't race at its usual speed.  I feel insulated by a fuzzy brain.  My edges aren't as sharp.  I can eat comfort foods.  I can watch bad TV and get comfy under a warm quilt and this is all condoned. 

When you have a medical illness, even a cold, people understand your need for rest.  Because you are sick and tired. 

But if you say you are depressed and tired, well it is looked upon differently isn't it?

"I just want to sleep...I am really depressed."

Undoubtedly some well meaning loved one will rip the covers down and entice you to get up and even socialize with others because it will "do you some good."

Nobody brings you chicken soup when you are depressed and tired.  But if you have a cold...comfort foods may be given.

Strange isn't it?

When I was a little girl I remember having chicken pox.  I was living in my grandmother's house and it is like the whole world stopped.  I...who was mostly insignificant...was suddenly the center of attention.  My mother would rub pink lotion on my scabs.  I was brought food in bed.  One of my school friends dropped off my homework and my teacher wrote a note wishing me to get well. 

But if I was depressed as a child this was not so understood.  "What are you crying about?  Nothing is wrong."  Sadness was something to hide unless there was some concrete reason that you could show.  No wonder depression is so invisible.  Nobody can peer inside your brain and see the pain.  And if you are tired along with feeling depressed it just doesn't make sense to most people.