Video Message: Ask for Help.

This week's video message strays off the main topics of this blog. I do so for a good reason. Depression during the holiday season is remarkably common. People around us are suffering through it and attempting to put on their best facade of holiday cheer because they don't want us to judge them or they don't want us to have our holiday joy dampened. (Actually, there are a lot more reasons for why people with depression will hide their symptoms. These are two of the many reasons why I and several folks I know do so.)

If you are struggling with depression this time of year like I am, don't get angry or upset with yourself. Don't, for goodness sake, tell yourself that there is something wrong with you because you don't have the 'holiday spirit', please be kinder than that. With the enormous emphasis this time of year upon the 'Hallmark Christmas' it is easy for people with depression to feel cut off from everyone else. It is easy to feel like you simply don't have a place. Depression does this to us to begin with but the fact that you're moving counter current to the expectations of the season makes it worse.

Please, get help. It is a tremendous act of courage to speak out about your struggle. Getting help for my depression and other mental illnesses has probably been one of the hardest things I have done in all my life. Don't suffer needlessly. Take time to take care of yourself. Treat yourself gently and get the help that you need to get through the depression. You are important in this world. With out you, countless lives would be lesser and a great deal of good would not have happened in this world.

You deserve all the loving care that you can get when you are ill. Depression is no less serious than more physical illnesses like pneumonia. Just as you would make sure you took all the proper steps to recover from something like pneumonia, please do the same for your depression. Don't worry about how it may look to somebody else. This is definitely the time to disregard the haters, if ever there was one. The manufactured 'joy' of the season is exhausting for folks who are in good health. It is doubly so when you are unwell. So, don't try to make yourself a part of that.

Recognize that your feelings are legitimate. Depression is painful, scary, and exhausting. You are not alone in this. There are countless other people who are fighting the same fight this time of year for a dizzying array of reasons. Be one of the ones who gets the help they need, because you shouldn't be suffering like this. ♥