My daughter graduated from high school last week. I watched proudly as she and approximately 640 seniors in her graduating class of 2015 received their diplomas that May evening. However, there were two classmates who also graduated with diplomas but were not present to receive them. One classmate died of leukemia earlier that year and the other took a gun to school and shot himself despite school staff pleading with him to stop, a week before his graduation. I can not begin to imagine the grief and loss those two families are experiencing. Two beloved children, one lost to a medical illness, the other lost to a another type of illness, invisible but no less deadly.
According to the World Health Organization, 350 million people are affected by depression with an estimated 1 million deaths by suicide a year. Those are staggering figures. But this blog is not about statistics. This blog is about those millions of individual experiencing symptoms of depression that fight on a daily basis sometimes moment to moment...to live. I am a twitter junkie (for lack of a better term), and recently I came across a "hash tag" started by an actor who struggles with bouts of depression; #AlwaysKeepFighting.
What an inspirational idea to help battle depression. Too often people with depression feel isolated and alone. They suffer in silence and at times even put on a "front" so as to not "burden" family and friends. When what is really needed is to reach out for support from family, friends, professionals, and sometimes a support group, even social media. I hear a lot of grumbling about the dangers of social media with bulling and threats, but there is also a positive side. I am not in anyway saying that social media can replace professional support but if someone is feeling hopeless it might be a place to start. The fact that a popular actor can reach out to friends and family, and his fans about his disorder, can give a "ray" of hope to someone who is not able to ask for help.
HOPE, is such a short word that says so much. Hope is the belief that things will get better. That the stress or pain you are feeling is temporary and will eventually pass. It's the mind set that as long as you continue to fight and endure you have a chance that things will inevitably get better.
Here are a few ways to help instill hope. Remind yourself what you are grateful for. Too often, people focus on what they have lost such as health, family, friends, income..etc. They continue to live in the past rather then focusing on the present and what they do have. Appreciate what you do have, daily.
Also, think about the people in your life who love you. Sometimes we feel alone even though we are really not. We do not have to have significant others to be loved. Family and friends are also sources of love. Reach out to them, even if it is not to discuss you depression, sometimes talking to a loved one makes us feel just a little more hopeful.
Another way to inspire hope is to do self care. Do something nice for yourself, give yourself something to look forward to. When I was an adolescent, I used to look forward to watching a favorite television show. It was not much but it was enough to keep me going until that following day or week.
It kept me fighting... so that decades later I could sit with other proud parents and watch my daughter receive her diploma.
Don't give up hope. #AlwaysKeepFighting
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