The other day, I sat by myself sipping coffee in the balcony. It was one of those evenings when the cold, gentle breeze compelled me to have a little chat with nature. The large tree outside my balcony was swaying softly, as if dancing to the rhythm of the wind. As I gulped another sip, I looked at the coffee mug as a thought passed through my head – “Coffee is slow poison”. I just let out a small laugh, ignored the thought and took another sip. A few moments later, I found another thought knocking inside, interrupting my conversation with the dancing tree. Like a mother being constantly tugged at by her kid in a candy shop, I had no option but to pay attention to it. Here’s what the thought said to me- “More often than not, we know what is good for our well-being and what is not and despite of it we choose to stick to bad choices.”
Depression is like coffee. It’s slow poison. (No offence to the coffee-lovers!) We know it’s harmful, we know where it will lead us, but we refuse to acknowledge its bad impact on us. And so, there we sit, gulping depression sip by sip, everyday of our lives.
Depression doesn’t have a face. You could be standing right next to it – could be a stranger, friends, teachers, colleagues or your parents/ kids and you still won’t recognize depression. Depression is the new era epidemic. It is affecting the majority of us and at an astonishing pace. But, depression isn’t the problem that needs our prime focus. What needs our attention is the reasons behind why we do not openly speak about it.
When a majority follows something, it becomes a set of unwritten rules. Here’s a few rules that our society seems to be following –
- Crying in front of others is not okay
- Boys don’t cry
- Talking too much about your emotions means you are not independent
- You cannot afford to be depressed because you have a family to look after
- If you are diagnosed with depression, you won’t be accepted by the society
All these reasons and so many more, emerge from the wrong belief systems we surround ourselves with. We have programmed ourselves to follow these illogical set of rules. We find it easier to turn a blind eye towards our mental health instead of looking for help. The heartbreaking reality of the world we live in today is that we are more aware of the stigma attached to depression than depression itself.
Day-after-day, we continue to let our stress and depression control our mood and health and eventually fall prey to the belief that it is a part and parcel that comes along with having a human life. We make peace with having to bottle up our feelings and crying behind closed doors. We fail to make peace with our mind and health. We teach ourselves to suppress our emotions, paste a smile and very smoothly deliver a robotic reply – “I’m fine”, every time someone asks how you are doing.
Through this article I do not intend to teach you how to deal with depression for I hold no expertise in treating it. I may or may not know you personally, I may or may not know how you’ve been feeling lately but this is my way of reaching out to you, to tell you that –
It is okay to feel sad longer than you thought you would be. It is okay that you think life’s being tough on you. It is okay to be, hurt, angry, upset. It is okay to feel what you feel. IT IS OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY. IT IS OKAY TO BE DEPRESSED.
But it’s NOT okay to neglect your mental health. It’s NOT okay to avoid asking for help. It’s NOT okay to feel you won’t be accepted or understood. It’s NOT okay to think nobody will listen to you.
I am here, I am listening.
If you are in need of help or know someone who is fighting depression, feel free to contact me and together we will find a way. ♥
Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below. Thank you! =)
A Twenty-Something Girl 