The Deadliest Disease: Depression

I close my eyes and just for a moment I am free. I imagine myself on top of the highest mountain in the world. I overlook everything and for a moment, I feel peace. I'm away from anyone or anything that could hurt me. All I see is the beauty of God's creation that we call Earth. I see tree's and mountains. I see the sun and feel the warmth of it on my pale skin. I can hear nothing but the small whistle of the wind and the trees as they sway to the movement of Earth's natural songs. And then I open my eyes.

Darkness, scared, alone, anxious, pathetic, selfish….depressed. 



This topic is one that is hard for me, or for anyone really, to talk about. It's extremely difficult when the whole outside world thinks that you've got it all together. You're always happy and you seem like everything is going your way. Why is someone that seems like their life is near perfect, depressed? 

If you've ever had to experience the feeling of depression, then you will understand the following situation: We'll call these two people Jan and Sally. 

Jan: "It's all in your head. You're making it way worse than it actually is. You can control your emotions. Just get over it. Move on." 

Sally: *thinks to herself*"Is it really just in my head? Can I control this?" 

Let me tell you the first thing I learned about depression: NO. You cannot control it. It literally has the ability to hit you out of nowhere. We all have those people in our lives that have never truly experienced the mental illness of depression. It is not something that we can turn on and off like a light switch. 

Depression is a very tricky thing. Some people that suffer from depression have what you would call a trigger. A trigger is something that sets off the imbalance in our brains that causes depression mode to kick in. It's never just one event that causes depression. That's probably the most misunderstood part about depression to the people who don't know what it's like. They often think that one certain event happened and caused us to sink into our depression. That's why they often make comments like Jan and think that we can just "get over it" and "move on". 

Let me explain something to those of you who have not suffered from depression: 

Imagine breaking 5 different bones in your body at once. Your natural morphine starts to kick in but you're still in so much pain. It hurts so badly that you get to a point that you'll do whatever it takes to just stop the pain. You are rushed to the hospital and they give you pain medication, but that only helps so much…I mean, you've just broken 5 bones for heaven's sake!! 

This is what depression feels like. It actually gets so mentally painful that you start to feel physical pain. When you get to that point, you want to just get your mind off of it completely. This is what causes people to hurt themselves. They would rather have their minds on physical pain than on the mental pain that they are feeling. The thoughts of suicide start to circle in their heads. 'But how can I be having these thoughts? My life is so great. I have no reason to be thinking like this. I have no reason to be in this much pain.' 

Trust me, we know. We know that we are blessed. We know that we have no reason to feel this way. But that's why depression is so tricky. People don't get depressed because they have a sucky life. People don't get depressed because they're lonely. People don't get depressed because they are poor. Sure, these could all be factors of depression, but depression, like I stated before, isn't because of any one thing. It is a mental illness. It is a mental imbalance. It's like catching the flu. We don't know when it's going to happen. We don't know how long it will last. We don't know how bad it's going to get. But what we do know is that, like the flu, we will get better. 

So what can you do to help your loved ones that suffer from depression? The answer to this is simple. We don't need someone to check on us every second of everyday. We don't need someone who walks on eggshells around us. We don't need someone to treat us like we're 5 years old. What we need is genuine friendship and love. What we need is a reminder of our purpose in life. We know that it will get better, so don't remind us every time we talk. Instead, remind us that you love us. Remind us that we have a purpose here. Remind us that there is no way in the world that anyone that matters in our lives would be better off without us. 

Here is a short video to kind of put everything I've said into perspective. I hope that after reading this post, you either 1. Know that you're not alone in your fight against depression or 2. Better understand the seriousness and how to handle your loved ones who suffer from this illness.