There was a better way. It has taken years and years to undo the mental anguish and trauma in my mind...and sometimes it still haunts me...

But see...the thing is...I know what to do when it gets bad...I know the right friends to call who won't judge me or tell me to stop...or to tell me to think about how I'm making others feel right now...they tell me...I matter. And I'm not alone...and I'm going to be alright.

I wonder if there are people who have never had anybody tell them that? Can you imagine? If you can...find someone who looks like they need to hear it...even if you don't know them...just...say something to make them feel good about themselves. Tell them they matter...when the rest of the world tells them they don't. " Braden Daniels (from a Facebook post and he encouraged us to share, and I know no better place to do it than here)


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This was not something I intended to write tonight, this week, this month, this year, or perhaps ever, but when I saw this on a rare look at Facebook, I felt compelled to do so.

As many of you know, I struggle with depression and have for at least twenty-five years, probably longer, probably back to childhood. Of course, back then, it wasn't talked about. After being diagnosed, I elected to be open about the diagnosis, however working in healthcare, didn't want to say too much. At the point I made the decision never to return to employment after being physically disabled, I felt the need to be open about it in hopes of reducing the stigma and increasing the acceptance of mental illness. Yes, it has cost me a few so-called friends and deepened the divide between myself and my family, but that is a small price to have paid if it saves one person's life.

Many of us suffer with some degree of depression at some time in life. The kind of depression that leads to suicide is a profound sense of hopelessness and helplessness which lasts for months or years on end during which the fear of continuing to live in pain far outweighs the fear of dying.