How do you distinguish between sloth and depression?

[Robert_Sock]

The amount of exercise needed various from person to person. However, what is clear is that exercise is NEEDED to help keep the body fit and healthy.

If by “mortify flesh” you mean physically harming our body through whipping, wearing items that cause the body to suffer we are NOT called to do that. I would be interested if you would show me where in the CCC it says we are.
If you mean something different in terms of mortification please explain so I may understand you.

No, I did not mean the more extreme forms of mortification, but that mortification which can be achieved by such acts as carrying the cross, doing penance and amending one’s life.

Back to my question, how does one know if the lack of exercise is due to sloth or depression?

 

[Mary_Ellen]

Back to my question, how does one know if the lack of exercise is due to sloth or depression?

It can be either. Exercise can help with depression, though, so it’s good to try to work through the depression to get the exercise. Same with the sin of sloth - work through it with the help of God and the graces of the Sacraments.

 

[Robert_Sock]

It can be either. Exercise can help with depression, though, so it’s good to try to work through the depression to get the exercise. Same with the sin of sloth - work through it with the help of God and the graces of the Sacraments.

What you say is true.

I do not know why, but I strongly believe that God wants me to sit still and remain inactive right now.

 

[Mystic_Banana]

What you say is true.

I do not know why, but I strongly believe that God wants me to sit still and remain inactive right now.

Well, that’s neither sloth or depression - that’s trying to serve God. although there’s always that “if God tells you what you want to hear all the time it’s probably just your own desires doing the talking” argument…

 

[7_Sorrows]

I have asked myself this many times. Depression is draining. It zaps your energy. Getting out of bed in the morning can take a lot of effort not to mention getting through the rest of the day.
Walking or swimming are 2 good forms of exercise. And it does make you feel better. Just make sure you don’t get paralyzed by depression because then you will need to get help to get going again.

 

[Ash_Wednesday]

Given that there are varying degrees of depression, I can only share my point of view according to the extent that I’ve had depression. Everyone’s situation with depression is different. I’ve lived with depression and anxiety off and on my entire adult life. I have not been depressed to the point where I’ve been incapacitated – so I can only offer this from the perspective of someone who has had depression but can still function.

Depression is an underlying condition that I carry with me, but it isn’t sloth in itself. How we manage our depression, to me, is where the sloth comes in. There is a difference between emotions, moods and the swimming thoughts in our mind from the depressed state – and our conscience and the actions we choose to take.

If I wake up in the morning feeling crummy and anxious, if I am able to get out of bed and start the day but CHOOSE to stay in bed and wallow in my condition, in that case I would be guilty of sloth. (Again, I cannot speak for someone so depressed they are incapacitated and hospitalized, I speak only in my own circumstances) If I am capable of offering up prayer, even just a short prayer, but choose not to and can’t be bothered, then I’d say that’s sloth.

I find I have an easier time with the depression (and anxiety) if I stay busy, exercise, eat well and minimize stress. I also take medication for it, but the medication doesn’t think for me or solve my problems. It just helps minimize the symptoms. Sloth would make me stay inside in a dark room with the covers over my head, ignoring my daily duties and sliding to despair.

That, of course, doesn’t mean depressed people have to put on a fake smile and run around like the energizer bunny. It’s different for everyone and what we are capable of. But even monks in the monastic calling who live lives of contemplative prayer do partake in some daily activity when at all physically possible for them.

Depression is something of a medical condition with potential impact on our minds and emotions – sloth, I find, is something that comes from conscious choices and can potentially make the depression worse.

Those are just my insights, though.

 

[Ash_Wednesday]

OP I also forgot to mention (no longer had time to edit) that even though you may feel too old to be a monk, you could tailor your daily life to emulate a monk somewhat according to your situation and abilities. John Michael Talbot discusses this in some of his writings about bringing the monastic living and contemplative spirit to everyday life.