It’s hard for a lot of people to discuss that they live with depression, to even acknowledge it to someone else. That takes willingness and trust to do. And although sometimes I find it’s easier to talk with a stranger about some things, many of us still walk around feeling like there’s a stigma to admitting to having it.
Remember the “old days” when that REALLY was true? The days when answering the question on medical forms – “Do you suffer from depression? With anxiety?” – almost always meant you answered No to the 1st and maybe Yes to the second because your insurance company would seriously ding you if you were honest? I sure remember that!
Back then, admitting to friends and colleagues that you had depression was a no-no. You wanted to keep it to yourself because people might think less of you or think you were weak or worse. Those days were tough.
But that’s not now. Since 2016, when Gold Medal Olympian Simone Biles brought the conversation to the world, SO many celebrities have opened up and brought this issue to the mainstream. They helped break the stigma – the stigma of suffering in silence, of not opening up or of not being willing to seek help – wide open. Now, having depression is looked on as an illness. It doesn’t mean you’re broken, and especially not that you’re less than. Can you imagine a new perspective on this – one where the dark cloud surrounding you just might have some sunshine peeking through?
I know. That may be an odd idea. But think about it. What if your depression wasn’t this awful thing you had to live with? What if it was something you could get your arms around, work with, and tame it down, as it were, so that it wasn’t what ran your life, but YOU WERE?! Imagine how different your life, your perspective about yourself, would be?
THAT’S what my book You Aren’t Depression’s Victim is all about – being able to shift your perspective and change your life. It’s about discovering ways to face the dark stuff and step back from it. Wouldn’t that be something?!
Hope may be a four-letter word, but why not hang onto it and see what’s REALLY POSSIBLE? Just imagine…
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