Depression on aisle 1

Depression sucks.

Seeing people all around you happy and excited to do things when you dread waking up every morning is miserable. You feel like a greyed out cartoon character walking through a world of rainbows and life starts to hit auto-pilot. It starts eating at you so you FaceTime your friend to talk. The minute you tell anyone that you're depressed...

...they think you need advice.

via GIPHY

They tell you to smile more or laugh more or exercise more, but really?? Is that helpful? I just want someone to listen to me. Not every day is going to be sunshine. Sure, no problem. I'll just think myself happy because that's exactly how you restore a chemical imbalance: by pretending it's not real. 

Leave me alone. I'm fine.

Nobody willingly signs up for this. But I'm not the only one here. Depression affects nearly 16.1 million American adults (source). So why don't more people understand how it works?

It's also okay to ask for help.

Make sure that it's someone you trust. Let them know that you want a listening ear and that you don't want advice. When I'm going through my roughest periods, the act of verbalizing what I feel has helped me cope immensely. Crisis Text Line are available 24/7 and are text-able if you're not comfortable speaking over the phone about.

But it's also your life.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you what to do. Everyone fights a different battle. 

It's not about covering up your feelings

and pretending to be happy. It's about addressing your battle and seeking help when necessary to help manage and improve your situation. It's not always pleasant, but you choose how you want to battle depression. It's not anybody else's choice.