Mental Health

 We have started having a discussion in our society about Mental Health over the last decade or so. I think this is a good idea. I like that some celebrities have opened up about their own mental health issues. My two favorites are the 2 Windsor Princes when they talked about what happened to them when their Mum died. Because that helps to create space where other people can open up about their mental health struggles.

I have mine. The 2 that I deal with are Depression and PTSD. And if you do not believe that you can be affected with PTSD when you have not seem Military Combat then you really just do not understand. Traumatic Events happen to every person. Some are affected by this stronger than others.

For the longest time mental health was a taboo subject. It was thought that these were just weak people with no moral fiber who were attention seeking. or lazy people who did not want to work and were trying to leach off of society. And some other fables that people took as true.

So there was a lot of Shame around having to deal with mental health issues. And there still is. Although that is finally being diminished as we, our Society and Nation, become more open about what it is like for ourselves in being affected by this. We still have a long way to go.

So Depression. For me it is like living inside an invisible heavily weighted blanket. It is draped over me weighing down my entire life and there just seems to be no purpose in anything. I go through the motions of my day and on days when there is nothing that I already have to do then I sometimes just do not get out of bed. Or, if I do, and I usually always do, then that is about as good as it gets for the day.

I remember once, in Germany while in the Army, I missed out on my duty day, and got into serious trouble, because I just did not have it in me to go to formation or work or anything else. I hid out in a day room for another company. Neither the Army or myself understood what was happening. I only know today what it is because of a lot of work.

PTSD is another thing. For me, it is like I am inside a movie of something that happened and I am experiencing it RIGHT NOW as if it is happening. And another way is the same as above only instead of something that happened I am imagining a Future Disaster Event and again, I am in the middle of it experiencing it as a RIGHT NOW event.

And I felt a lot of shame, like I was just weak and should get over it, for years around all this. I never talked about it or sought any help for it as I really believed it was a choice that I somehow kept making and I just needed to "Grow Up" and "Get a Grip". Be an Adult.

We know today, although there is still a big chunk of our society who deny this, that these, and many other manifestations of Mental Ill Health, are really serious Medical Issues. That those of us who have to deal with this are not making a choice to be sick, that this is just What's So.

I write all of this to say that if YOU, Yes You, are feeling like life is spiraling and you cannot get a handle on it, Talk to Someone. I will Listen.