//A somber posting today, void of cuteness and my typical happy demeanour. This is something I feel very strongly about and believe it’s extremely important. Thanks for bearing with me.//
I felt that this post on Buzzfeed was imperative to share with anyone who may be reading. As I’m sure I’ve said before I suffer from severe depression that borders on Bi-Polar II disorder. For years I’ve had people tell me that I’m just sad and to get over it. This is the first time that I’ve truly not felt alone in my suffering. To know that respected artists out there are trying to raise awareness for this debilitating disease means the world to me.
While I’m lucky that for the most part my medications keep me stable. I still have ups and downs, but they are less extreme and more like what I’d imagine “normal” to be like. Though there are still days where I don’t see the light I have a permanent reminder of just how strong I can really be: my tattoo. I have a single tattoo that is a symbolization of my strength and of those who helped me when things looked as though they would never get better. I have it in a spot special only to me, where only I can see it and be reminded every day that it does get better.
What my readers may not know is that I’m dealing with an extreme amount of grief right now that’s related to someone else’s depression. In May my first love took his life. I’m not coping with it well at all. I have an appointment with the school counsellors to start working through this. His death, while I hadn’t talked to him in 5 years, has hit me hard for many reasons. One (of many) of which is it’s forcing me to remember my own depression-related path and of when I seriously considered taking my own life.
But I digress…
What I really want to do is post this link so that if you don’t suffer from depression you might start to understand it better when your best friend or family member just can’t get up in the morning or your co-worker misses work when they’re perfectly “healthy”. Share this as much as you can and maybe one day the working and social world will begin to not frown so heavily on someone who is “just sad”. Each of these “comics” ring true for me. I found myself crying by the end of reading them because they were all soul bearing comics.
Just remember, if you suffer from depression know that you are not alone. I hate it when people say that because so often just knowing that more people go through what you experience isn’t enough. There are somedays that get so bad that sheer sympathetic understanding isn’t enough. But maybe, just maybe, the more people that are out there that really understand what you’re suffering will begin a revolution that brings change in the stigma that is depression and we can embrace one another with open arms no matter what the situation. As the posts finishes:
Because we all need more hugs. ❤
Flare Fixation 