In yesterday’s post I mentioned I was going to unpack the issue of mental illness a bit more. My experience of it, anyway. The following is a post I wrote a while back while I was in the midst of a “blue” period. Don’t worry – I’m much better now. 😉

Remember that drug commercial? The one that said, “Depression hurts”?

Yeah well, depression does more than hurt.

It’s a thief. It robs you of joy and love and energy and leaves you with weariness, sadness, exhaustion.

It’s an extortionist. It threatens to remove the goodness. It coerces you into negative thought.

It’s a drug dealer. It has you chasing something, anything that can ease your mind. Put you back into life. A little blue pill? Or a little pink one?

It’s a murderer. It kills hope. It bludgeons vitality. Destroys lives. And now and then, it even ends them.

Depression hurts. All of us. Whether we have a loved one in the midst of it. Or we are mired inside it’s dark, greyness right now.

The worst part? You don’t know when it will get better. If it will get better. Will you make it one more year, month, day – if it remains the same?