When we were young, if we were in a bad mood or if we were upset about something or if the world just didn’t feel right – we called it ‘having the bad feeling’. My Dad was good at getting the bad feeling to go away, by saying silly things that weren’t really funny but it made you laugh anyway.

And so, now that I have the bad feeling, as an adult – my Dad has been making bad Dad jokes to get me to smile. And I smile, but I guess it’s a sad sort of smile, because I know this time that a silly joke won’t be enough to make the bad feeling go away.

My Doctor has another name for ‘the bad feeling’, she calls it Post Natal Depression.

Since she told me these words, I just seem to be more depressed than ever.

I think I preferred it when it was just called, ‘the bad feeling.’