This past year has already flown by and looking back I have barely posted anything to this blog. Even though I haven’t posted in a long while I still get frequent visitors to my website, which makes me realize and continues to confirm, that there are a lot of you out there who are reading this right now that are still suffering from mental illness specifically with depression and anxiety.

Now over the last several years, these two words “Depression” and “Anxiety” have gotten a lot of hype, I would even say the trend to talk about them has gone from a subject of silence (before 2007) to a subject that has gotten EXTREME amounts of publicity and awareness (since 2007 and beyond).

Thank goodness for that!

Since the pandemic, I think depression and anxiety have been subjects that have been pushed aside, put on the back burner in our conversations because we have been focussing on different “types” of struggles.

Does this mean that depression and anxiety have been resolved over the last few years if no one is talking about them like they used to?

Does this mean that fewer people are needing help with coping with it?

Does this mean people are getting more help with it and healing from it?

The answer could be a big “Maybe” to all of the above questions, or maybe the answer is just a big ol fat NO!

In fact, according to https://www.statnews.com/2021/10/08/mental-health-covid19-pandemic-global/ “Major depression and anxiety disorders grew nearly 26-28% in 2020. That’s tens of millions more cases of depression and anxiety, in addition to the hundreds of millions of cases already existing worldwide”. That is a HUGE increase in cases in one year alone.

So why aren’t people talking about as much anymore?

Well, maybe they are… maybe they are just sick of complaining about something they don’t see a cure for. Maybe people have just gotten used to hearing that everyone and their dog has been struggling with it. I know for me I get bored with myself always having depression and not feeling like I get relief from it consistently. I get tired of telling people I am struggling with it. I know several other people that have told me they feel the same way too.

But why do we do this to ourselves? Why can’t we seek and get the help we need continually?

Are we worth it???

Let me give you a visual.

Imagine if you were riding a bike one day and you rode over a big rock you didn’t see, it managed to throw you headfirst into the concrete sidewalk below. You were able to pull yourself up and get back on your feet only to quickly realize that you had a huge gaping cut across your whole face. feeling the blood trickle down your cheek you grab the bottom of you your shirt and hold it there to soak it up. before long the shirt is filled with blood. Realizing you need medical attention you rush to the nearest urgent care to get help. 4 hours later (wink wink) the concerned Doctor comes in and tells you that he needs to clean it and stitch it up quickly so the healing can begin. You tell him that you think you will be fine and that you don’t want to get stitches. He reminds you that the wound is deep and that it may not heal correctly if he doesn’t stitch it up, that the chances of it becoming infected are great and it might cause permanent damage and bad scarring. He gives you other less invasive options such as gluing it or using butterfly bandages to hold it together while it heals. You again reject his advice and tell him you don’t want to go that route and you leave.

As the days go by you realize that the wound you thought you could care for yourself begins to get infected. You can see that it has started to heal on the ends but in the middle, it is still gaping and seeping. You decide to just ignore it, you have seen other people with wounds that healed by themselves. You will wash it with soap and water every few days and you “know” it will be just fine. When people ask you what happened you quickly tell them the story and brush it off and say, It’s not that big of a deal”, “I’m fine, it’s fine, everything is fine!”, But as time goes on your wound gets bigger and more infected, and you start to hide from people. You realize that if you go around others they will make comments about it or tell you how to fix it. You don’t want to deal with this so you keep your distance and you alienate yourself from almost everyone, even the people you love most.

Now you can see where this story is going right?

Obviously, this story is messed up and all wrong!

As you read this you find yourself saying, “just go back to the doctor, and ask him what to do to get help to heal it”. Or, “what? why would you not clean the wound every day, not just every few days?” or ” that’s stupid no one would ever let a wound go for that long without getting help with it”.

The sad truth is this story happens on a regular basis with people who are suffering from mental illness. The only difference is that their wounds aren’t visible. For some reason, we as a human race generally think that the wounds that are on the outside, you know? the physical ones are the only wounds that need instant, continual, proper care.

Well my friend you are WRONG!!!! Those internal wounds can do a whole heap of long-term damage if they are not taken care of the way they should be.

Let me say I completely understand that physical wounds are a little different than mental wounds. With the physical, there are usually set strategies and routines used to heal them. The doctors are trained for years on how to properly treat each individual wound. And generally if taken care of correctly they can reassure you that healing will happen.

On the other hand depression and anxiety aren’t always as easy to assess and heal.

But just because they aren’t as easy to heal doesn’t mean that they are less important to heal!

You may find yourself trying one medication and the side effects are too harsh so you have to try another. Or maybe you aren’t getting any results from your antidepressant so you quickly tell your doctor you need to try something else. You may have to try other things other than medication, or alongside your medication, like therapy or counseling or group support to help you. You may have to change up your diet or try new exercises that seem to give you relief from the mental illness you are struggling with.

You may need to make changes to where you live if you need more consistent sunlight and better year-round weather. Maybe you have brighter lights installed in your house so you don’t feel the effects of winter as harshly. Maybe you have found that journaling your thoughts has helped to clear your mind or calling a friend once a week to vent or talk things through with them helps you. Maybe you aren’t getting enough sleep and you choose to allow yourself more time to hit that snooze button. Maybe you need a new doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor, or therapist who actually listens to you and gives the feedback you can rely on and that is more helpful for your particular situation.

Even though you might feel like your prayers to God are unanswered or unheard keep praying keep seeking His help. Ultimately through Christ eventually all our burdens will be made light.

Whatever the process is to your healing let me tell you again and again…

YOU ARE WORTH THE PROCESS!

No matter how long the process takes.

YOU ARE WORTH HEALING!

Let me tell you it has been a HEAVY HEAVY year, this one and last. I’m talking thick syrup, super glue on the bottom of my feet kind of heavy. Most days I feel like I could sleep all day! Many days I don’t want to even do the basic things because they seem too hard. too impossible.

It’s been HARD!

(do I dare say?) the heaviest I have ever had. I know I’m not alone in this feeling. It has been HEAVY for a lot of us, in fact, most people I know have told me that they are severely struggling right now with one thing or another.

Having this proverbial weight on us makes it hard to function sometimes, and pushes us away from feeling like there is any healing in the near future. But just because we feel like that is the truth it’s not! We can do hard things, we already are.

You already ARE!

Getting the support and help you need now, will help lift a load off of you. You will feel lighter mentally, and more able to feel hope and happiness again.

What is one way you will seek help today? Let me know in the comments below.

xoxo

Sara