Guest Post: Tackling Depression

I have not been blogging for a long time, but in the little amount of time, I’ve had the opportunity to read incredible content that has helped, taught, and inspired me. Recently, I’ve reached out to one of my awesome followers for a guest post. She has an amazing writing style that really connects with the reader. She wrote this article on depression. I invite you to look at her blog and this article at http://insidethelifeofmoi.wordpress.com. It is an amazing read.

Lastly, I would like to thank her for this post! I feel like depression is something that everyone experiences at one time or another in varying degrees. Her writing style is amazing and it probably took a lot to write about such a touchy topic! So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you AMANDA!

So without further ado, I give you “The Perfect Storm.”

Depression, a storm cloud hanging over us. It’s unescapable. We try to run from it, only it follows our every move. We try to hide from it, only its two steps ahead of us. Suddenly, the clouds release a downfall of melancholy, lethargy, hopelessness and despair. Crashing down on us, beating us down. We lie fragile upon the tear soaked ground, catching a glance of our hopeless reflection, catching a glimpse of our distorted selves.

The clouds are as grey as we feel. The rain is as ferocious as the hatred clawing from within. When we are in the midst of depression, it’s almost impossible to see a way out. It’s almost impossible to know the sun will shine once again. We can’t look up, in fear of being beaten back down. We can’t look forwards, for the darkness has stolen our light.

Depression consumes our every hour, every minute, and every second. We become that dark melancholic cloud. We become the blackness we feel inside. Infectious, like a raincloud invading a sunlit sky, rapidly turning light into darkness. Everything we touch turns to ash. As the clouds thicken, we are unable to see. Our thoughts forever lost in our fog-infested minds.

Depression wraps its ugly arms around us. It’s dragging us down. With nowhere to run and no place to hide, we lose the motivation to fight on. We admit defeat. Floating in a sea of pandemonium, moving through a whirlwind of hurt, there’s no escaping the malignant sadness which consumes our every breath. As we lie in this river of turmoil, we don’t know it yet, but we have already crossed our first hurdle – Acceptance.

As we allow this sea of depression to sweep us off our feet, we wave goodbye to denial. Although our days are bleak, we begin to realise, one day the sky will clear, and the tears will no longer fall. One day, the sun will break through the clouds, and we will feel warmth inside our hearts. A midst the stormiest weather, it’s easy to lose insight and we begin to fear our lives will always be this way. The beautiful truth is, after every storm, the sun always shines.

Perhaps the storm isn’t so bad?

It is through our darkest moments, we learn the most about ourselves. It is during these bleak periods, the façade is dropped and we become truly exposed. With a domination of raw emotion, our worlds become animated with colours of depression. We become more attuned to our feelings. Furthermore, our emotions are intensified. We begin to access parts of ourselves, we were unaware we possessed. We become more creative, more passionate, more animated. We learn to utilise the darker times. We write, we draw, we imagine, we create.

And so we float freely through the stormy seas, watching maps upon the sky, as lost as we’ve become. In time the clouds clear, and so do our minds. Suddenly, the skies cry no longer, and we begin to find our feet once again. The sea of tears has dried, and suddenly, the world doesn’t look so daunting anymore. The darkness has gone. As we watch the sun gleam out from behind the cloud, we smile and embrace the moment. We walk out of the storm, a stronger person.

It’s true what they say, ‘after the storm comes the calm’. It is only when we have been weathered and worn, when we truly appreciate the brighter days. This doesn’t mean we should spend our lives anticipating a storm, but rather, embrace the darker moments and appreciate the sunny spells.

Sometimes, it rains down hard on us, but other times, the sun shines through, and in that moment, depression is nothing but a distant memory.

“Life’s roughest storms prove the strength of our anchors”. – Unknown.