NEW WEBSITE ALERT!
I’m extremely excited about being a contributor writer for another website — DefyingShadows.com!
Defying Shadows Logo
My first article published on Defying Shadows is focused on two consecutive symptoms of depression that are often frustrating to comprehend for those who experience depression as well as their loved ones.
If you experience these symptoms, communicating can help others understand how to best support you.
Check it out here!
Change is taboo for those who do not want shifts that may make them uncomfortable. Unfamiliar spaces make us feel like we’re out of control, therefore, causing us anxiety. What do we do when we are faced with changes? Not all changes are positive (or feel positive). What do we do when changes affect our mental health?
Think of these questions when you are faced with uncomfortable changes.
As we move and shift around in our daily lives, we will learn that change is inevitable, but sometimes we don’t know how to think about unfamiliar territory creeping into our comfort zone. What do we do? We challenge ourselves to use our changes to fuel our growth. We navigate those changes to help us and not hurt or hinder our progress.
As time progresses and I’m learning to live better, taking care of my mental health and growing in my self-acceptance, I declare, confirm, and affirm that I will not allow anything to set me back. Although it’s been rough and I’ve been tired, I will continuously push myself to my potential. I’m able to be the advocate, writer, leader, influencer, and speaker I want to be.
Don’t allow anything or anyone to steal your motivation or stunt your ambitions to make the difference you know you can make. Push yourself to be better, to know better, and show others what progress looks like. Be the light for someone else.
Let’s do this!
Take it slow as you become more and more patient with your progress. Take one step at a time, giving yourself small tasks to be proud of.
With grace, you will find peace and power in those simple accomplishments. That, in itself, is a step forward in your goals.
Some days are more difficult than others, but that does not mean whatever you do get done is no less wonderful and brave.
Your accomplishments are what make you stronger and capable of doing more. The joy you feel because you accomplished something will make it easier the next time you find yourself in a stuck space.
You did it before, you can do it again.
Affirmation: I can accomplish whatever I put my mind to.
Not everyday will be easy, and not every moment will be peaceful, but what matters is the fight you put for yourself to continue on in spite of the struggle. Although life may put you in quicksand, remember to be still and let those sorrows pass you. You will then realize you were never sinking. Find peace of mind when you’re alone in a shaky place. Relax your chaos, then rest. You won the battle.
You ever been so tired your bones hurt?
You ever been so tired your eyes were heavy and your head nodded to the side?
You ever felt so tired that you could feel real tears forming in your eyes because all you wanted was to be able to sleep?
My worst fear in life is to feel this type of exhaustion again. To feel so much in a daze about reality that I wanted a break from being awake. I’ve become this exhausted more than one time, and I’m so afraid of feeling like this again. I’m afraid of the headaches, the irritation, the hunger, the dissociation, the lack of energy, and the anxiety that comes with it.
While my sleeping patterns will probably never get to where they need to be, I can always count on being able to sleep through the mornings while I gather myself to live through the next day.
College and food service jobs exhausted me so much I just want to be in bed. I want to recover and be able to sleep as much as I need to. I guess that’s why I’m afraid of getting another job.
I don’t want to feel this type of exhaustion again.
The Issues with Depression
Depression can be difficult to talk about and even more difficult to explain. Depression is different for everyone and challenging to deal with especially when the symptoms conflict with completing everyday tasks. It can be debilitating and paralyzing, prohibiting you from doing what you usually do on a daily basis.
Understanding depression can be frustrating for both the person who struggles with it and those around them. It takes patience, kindness, love, empathy, and compassion to be able to deal with that person as they understand themselves in their mental hardships.
Depression makes negative emotions extreme. If you feel down, depression will maximize your thoughts in ways that will remind you a million more reasons why you’re not good enough or why you can’t do something. Feeling lonely? Depression will tell you that no one cares. If you feel hopeless, or angry, or anxious, depression will amplify those feelings and convince you that you deserve to feel that way. It makes everything your fault. Depression, however, is what’s wrong, not you. If you’re in a state of any type of depression, understand that amplification of negative self-talk.
While depression is different for everyone depending on their circumstances and triggers, a low sense of self-does not allow them to heal or recover quickly. It takes time and constant self-work to not fall under the assumptions and hopelessness of depressive thoughts, but you have power.
To the One who Struggles: Lean Toward Recovery and Self-Care
Tell yourself, and show yourself that those amplified horrible assumptions are not you. You are good enough, strong enough, and brave enough to say no to the depression. Train your mind to see the opposite of those false thoughts. Be active in your healing. Talk sense to your strength in order to wage war on your depressive thoughts. Don’t fall in the slums of your mental struggle. When you feel yourself sinking, allow yourself to float. Just let go. Your tense response to depression is making you sink, rise above it. Rise above your thoughts with all of your power. You can fight back. You are brave.
To the Loved ones of People who Struggle with Depression: Listen to them
Depression can be difficult to talk about especially when the depression itself is telling you that no one cares. If you notice or see depressive symptoms in someone you know or love, talk to them and let them know that they are noticed and loved. Allow for them to be honest, if that’s what they want to do, and if they talk negatively about themselves reassure them that they are good enough, strong enough and that you care about them. How they might respond depends on how they are feeling, but being unconditionally loving and present allows them the space to reach out if they want to talk or ask for help.
Although it depends on the person and whether they want help or not, little gestures of compassion and caring will go a long way. Know who they are and what they like. Be present and aware. Be conscious and awake. Try your best. There is also suggesting professional help or therapy for them as well.
Since depression is so ambiguous and diverse depending on the person who has it, it’s all up to understanding the person and who they are. Healing for them is individual and you can be a part of that healing.
Find article in link below:
Living with anxiety is not always easy to explain. Some days “feel” okay, while others are filled with worry and nervousness. I try my best to be “positive” in the lowest sense of the term in my low days, and try to keep productive in my high days. One of the most difficult times when living with anxiety, however, is trying to explain it to others.
You understand that sometimes what makes you nervous or anxious shouldn’t make you so but it does. Or maybe it should be easy to calm yourself when you feel overwhelmed, but it’s not.
Realize that you are not crazy and what you have you are more than. You are brave, strong, and powerful even when you feel like you’re not. Your feelings are valid. Never let anyone take your power to validate your struggle away.
Some days are difficult, especially those days your pain spills out in panic, but remember that you have purpose.
See your purpose outside of your pain and trauma. See your purpose outside of your anxiety. Your life will always and forever have worth.
Let’s not only look out for our “strong friends” in the wake of the multiple suicides that has surfaced in the past month. Let’s talk about depression wholeatically and ways that we can be helpful to one another. Let’s talk about mental illnesses and things that we can do to better the lives of the ones we see show symptoms that are obvious and not so obvious. Let’s be aware and awake for one another. Let’s be supportive, invested, and not afraid to sit and talk to each other about mental struggles we go through. Let’s look out for everyone and not just the ones we suspect are “too strong” and may be hiding depression. Let’s instead understand, learn, and gain perspective about mental illnesses and ways that we, as their loved ones, can continuously aid in their healing process. Let the ones who are struggling be comfortable enough to talk about their struggles even if it’s vague or confusing at first. Let us be authentic to one another. Let us ask questions, be present, and actively love on each other.
SparklyWarTanks 