depression in Depression

I have yet to meet someone who understands what depression is like without actually ever suffering from it before. It is such a difficult thing to explain, and half of the time people just think you’re being dramatic or making excuses for things you don’t want to do. I hate how people misjudge it. It is a sickness, just like the flu, or even cancer. Yes, I’m comparing depression to cancer.

Much to many people’s surprise, depression is not a choice. I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to feel this way. It strikes us like any illness. It can be sudden, or it can take time. And it can definitely be fatal.

The sooner people realise all of this, the better. I am not some poor child who didn’t get enough attention one day so decided to make my problems bigger than they were. I am not seeking attention. In fact, a lot of the time, I am seeking solitude. I don’t want you to tell me it’ll be okay, that I’ll get past this, that it’s just a bump in the road or it’s probably because I’m premenstrual. Because it is not. Depression is a life long struggle. It is something I know in myself I will never truly recover from. I’m not saying that no one recovers, people do. But it can be very easy to slip back into the same thoughts again.

The next time you think about telling someone who suffers with depression to “just get over it”, whether that’s in person, or online, rethink your words and try to imagine what it could possibly be like to be in their shoes. Because it is a horrible existence.