| Depression is a signal that one has gotten off track - | | | | on a life course. Conformity may also come from |
| that your life is not in alignment with your deepest | | | | friends, peers, media or other larger cultural forces. |
| needs, values, interests and gifts. What does that | | | | Need for Security |
| mean? What track have you gotten off of? One way | | | | Another reason you might ignore your own internal |
| to think of it is to think of people you know who have | | | | signals is that the need for security can overpower |
| obviously gotten themselves into situations that are a | | | | your own sense of what is essentially meaningful. The |
| mismatch for them. For example, an artistic person | | | | need for security can take other forms such as |
| who works in a Fortune 500 company for job security | | | | staying in relationships that are familiar or safe. Or you |
| would be an example of a person who is off track. | | | | may fail to take necessary risks to make your dreams |
| Sometimes people make marriage choices for all the | | | | come true. Sometimes depression occurs and makes |
| wrong reasons. | | | | you so miserable in your current lifestyle, to make it |
| Two reasons your life may get off track is because | | | | clear to you that the comfort of familiarity also comes |
| of conformity and the need for security: | | | | with a price. Depression can serve as an inducement |
| Conformity | | | | for taking risks. You begin to realize that though there |
| One of the main reasons you might make a bad | | | | are costs to moving away from security, the cost of |
| choice that is out of line with your own real interests | | | | depression for not taking any risks is already a high |
| and desires is to conform to the expectations of | | | | price to pay. Depression reminds you that youare |
| others. Many times, parents' expectations set a person | | | | losing your life while you are not risking. |