I’d like to be serious for a minute.
Don’t laugh, I actually am serious every once in a while. I hereby apologize in advance for any “Afterschool Special”-type sentences contained herein. I also apologize for the somewhat jumbled nature of this post…it’s been a long couple of days.
That being said:
If you are feeling depressed, please, do not try to hide this from the people who know you. Pretending everything is fine only stops you from getting help when you need it.
Depression is nothing to be ashamed of. Millions of people fight it every day, a hell of a lot more than you might think.
But the first step to getting better is realizing that you need to get better. It’s one hell of a big step to take, but it’s one you have to take when you’re depressed. It takes a lot of guts to do it, beacuse a lot of people still feel like they’re admitting something shameful when they acknowledge they’re depressed.
It is never a bad thing to say that you need help. Ever. It doesn’t make you any less of a man, or any less independent. It just means that you are looking out for yourself, and the people around you.
If you know someone is depressed, please do not try to keep this from your friends. You don’t have to broadcast it to the whole world, but it is a lot better and easier to head off depression before it gets really serious and starts to affect that person’s relationships.
Why is this getting posted now? Because I just had to put one of my roommates on a plane to back to California because he refused to acknowledge that he needed help until things got really bad.
I’m really glad he finally acknowledged it, because now I know he’s getting the help he needs. But I wish I had known more of the extent of what was going on so I could have helped sooner.
You can always see warning signs when you look back, hindsight being 20/20 and all. But he hid a lot of stuff that was bothering him from almost everyone, and that made it really hard to see how much he was hurting.
So please, if you or anyone else you know is having problems with depression, please, talk to someone about it. They will not think less of you, they will not be angry at you, they will not pity you.
They will help you get better, and that is the most important thing.
And I promise, the amusing posts will be back tomorrow.