Mental Health Awareness Day

There is a place so dark that light cannot penetrate. There is an emptiness so deep that no amount of personal prayer, scripture study, and church attendance can fill. Well-intentioned people can tell you to think positive, look for the good, and remind you how much you have to be grateful for make the emptiness worse. Well-meaning people would tell me this was happening for a reason or something good will come from it, while all I wanted to do was go to sleep and not wake up.

I felt like I was dissolving.

I didn’t think I would survive.

It took several medication adjustments and hospitalization to find my way out. It took a loving husband and parents who refused to give up on me to find my way out. It took people loving me at my worst and sitting with me in silence.

There is so much healing that can happen when we sit with someone when they feel worthless. When we sit with someone in their darkest moments, we are reminding them we love them.

My life experiences made me who I am today and I can’t hate the experiences that got me where I am today. I am happier now than at any other time in my life. My experiences with mental illness tried to kill me, and today I thrive. Every day isn’t a good day, and each day is worth celebrating because I am alive to live it. I am often asked why I am so vocal about my experiences, the reason, I am still here to talk about my mental health when so many others aren’t. If sharing my story saves one person, everything I went through will have been worth it. Bravery isn’t being strong and silent. Bravery is using your voice to overcome. Bravery can save lives.

Depression is real. Anxiety disorders, OCD, PMDD, Eating Disorders are real. ADD/ADHD, Body dysmorphia is real. Mental Illness is real. Talking about mental health is talking about brain health and there should be no shame in doing so. Be kind, patient, and understanding. Be there for your friends and family. Don’t judge and believe what you are being told. Listen. Listening can save a life.

Right now, someone is adjusting to medications while fighting through nausea and fatigue. Someone is reading books and looking for inspirational content to help them get through the day. Someone is having suicidal thoughts and praying someone sees them. Someone is pretending everything is okay while slowly dying inside and someone is sharing their story, hoping it will help one person.

Today is World Mental Health Day. One of the greatest gifts you can give anyone struggling with mental illness is to listen, love, and believe them when they open up to you. Be someone’s safe person, it could save a life.