Mental health awareness day 2018

🧡 It’s okay not to be okay 🧡

💜 It’s time to talk 💜

How I describe my depression- my story

Invisible

I never had an “invisible friend” when I was a child.

At the beginning of my teenage years though I developed an “invisible enemy” and to this day I still have it. Just like an invisible friend, my invisible enemy follows me around, is always there and even when I think it has  gone it pops up to surprise me.

I vision my enemy as this dark, misty creature that likes to hang onto my shoulders, putting tremendous pressure onto my body and at times the pressure has forced me to my knees.

I have thought a lot about how to describe my depression and for me personally that’s the best way.

Its been a long, painful, never-ending road but finally the weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The first mile was to accept that I may always have this misty creature in my life. The trick is to work out how to live alongside it and it can be done, trust me.

Depression is an invisible illness, which can make it extremely difficult to talk about and even more difficult for others to understand. That being said, talking is the key! Talking about how you feel is one of the biggest steps in the road to recovery.

Another is time, taking each day as it comes. With all the will in the world depression will not just go away over night.

Be patient with yourself, ride the emotions and trust that it will get easier.

Some useful helplines

Papyrus (UK under 35s) – 0800 068 41 41

ChildLine (UK under 19s) – 0800 1111

Samaritans (UK) – 161 123

Talk to frank (UK for drug use) – 0300 123 6600

Woman’s aid (UK) – 0808 2000 247

Text HOME to 741741– a 24-hour crisis line (USA)

National suicide prevention line (USA) – 1-800-273-8225

The link below includes a list full of different hotlines for different parts of the world

http://ibpf.org/resource/list-international-suicide-hotlines