I am beautiful, out going and can bring life to any room I walk into. People tell me I am amazing and they are considered blessed to know me.......
It doesn't make sense to some, when I tell them that I BATTLE depression.
The Elephant in my life.
Depression is a hard concept to grab for those who have never been there. It is so easy to just tell the person to get over it... suck it up butter cup...
Depression has a stereo type for being simple and stupid and something that is easily cured.
There is nothing simple or stupid about it.
If you can not wrap your brain around it, this doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
It is not easy having to tell people that depression is a part of my life...
It is so a part of my life, that when I talk to friends and family, I want to tell them.................
But I don't. Stereotypes stop me. And so I suffer even more.
The last thing a person with depression needs to hear is that they just need to get over it. When dealing with something of this caliber, something that is not seen but felt, something that is so hard to explain - getting over it can just mean ending it.
If no body gets you.............. whats the point.
The funny thing is I get so mad when people commit suicide. It is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. But I think about it all the time............... How ever, its not that I want to die. I just get so tired of living. I get so tired of being tired and fucked up. I get so tired of dealing with this damn elephant nobody can see and not many people understand.
Being raised as a Christian does not help either. Christians DO NOT get depression (meaning Christians as people do not understand depression).... It is something that should be so easy to fix... 'the Joy of the Lord will be your strength' - God will heal you etc etc etc.
I remember when I first started taking anti depressants... it was such a low blow to me,
I shouldn't have to rely on drugs to make me feel like a normal human being... but the truth was, I NEEDED them... my marriage was suffering, I was suffering... so I go on them and no body knows, because its a christian 'taboo'. And then I am out with some family members, and they sit there and talk about how anti depressants are a joke, all any one needs to do is go to God and he will save them from their depression'.................
The truth of the matter is, God does save me all the time -
"Be still and know that I am God" is what I say to my self all the time.
Think about a pond, when all is clear and calm you can throw a pebble into the water and see the ripples of that pebble across the entire pond.... but when life is a storm and the waves are crashing, when you throw a pebble into the water you can not see the ripples at all.... "Be still"
"Be still and KNOW I am God".
I suffer from an unknown, not well understood, condition. Like someone who has diabetes, or cancer, however unlike any of these conditions, there is not evidence of it.... you don't see it on a chart or x-ray, you can not gage it with a blood test. It is a feeling, a deep sense of sorrow that pulls at the back of your eyes, that plays games in your head. You can not shake it off, or suck it up, and you definitely can not pretend that it is not there. And worst of all, you can not really truly explain it.
It is at some times a giant Elephant that hangs around and at other times it is a smaller Elephant, but it doesn't go away. Drugs help, vitamins help, but they do not take it away completely.
Talking about it helps, understanding helps and most definitely support helps.
Pretending that it is nothing and treating it like it is a stupid, bull shit issue only add to the intensity of IT.
IT is there, what is it? An Elephant? A feeling? A condition? What ever it is, it just IS. And it needs to be taken as such.
I know that I am an 'amazing' person, I also know what I deal with on the inside all the time. I am tired of being quite. It is time to talk about the Elephant in my life... because I know that I am not the only one who has one, and it is time to come to terms with that.
RA
Rach - very bravely said. Depression is very real and really does hurt. I am glad that you are finding your way through it.
ReplyDeleteEloquent and powerful; I journey with you Rachel.
ReplyDeleteQuiet is not what we need to be...reaching out with a hand up and indeed, uplifted is tantamount to healing in whatever form that takes.
When we are on our knees wondering, reduced to tears yet again..when will the clouds lift and that hole or abyss that we so carefully covered with leaves, gives way and we fall in again.
CBT(my own) is the only way I ground. Going outside and reaching for nature and watching water and animals helps too.
Along with depression, I block the sounds of sirens at night wherever I am, as PTSD comes along on that ride and I return again
to all of the rides in the moments of trauma.
We are strong Rachel, and made so by joining arms and speaking out! Great post:)
Music helps me and literature and my cherished memories which I journey through.Writng poetry, writing books and journals of poetry (boxes hanging around to be sorted and saved for perpetuity)...oh, the photos of my parents and grandparents lives and mine and the childrens as well.
Arghhh...boxes!!
I think I understand the voice in my ear that said "Be Still" I am woven in the fabric of life, we all are and I respect all belief systems or otherwise, unless they are draconian and
abusive.
Organized anything, is at risk of becoming that, if it is misused by egos.
Your warmth, is your big heart and your willingness to journey onward.
Thank you for you!