I have almost good days, but I still have very bad days, so almost good day is an achievement.
Since I have been resting during my pregnancy it’s the first time in 3 years I have been able to reflect on my past. There is no such thing as luck in my eyes, only life. Life happens how it happens, sometimes you can’t avoid it.
If you are anything like me you might find yourself wishing you could go back in time, wishing you could go back to a certain point in your life before it got bad and redo it with the knowledge you have now to aid you in not making the same mistakes.
I have come to get to know myself more than I ever did in the last year, I know I am strong, I have pushed through this endless storm one slow day at a time.
Sometimes it helps to hear others speak out about their depression only to find the similarities that reassure me that I am not completely alone in feeling this way.
Lately I have been trying to work out why, in the last year has my depression peaked. Why am I my lowest when I should have have everything I ever wanted. Perhaps because all I ever wanted I already had.
People come and people go from our lives, if they go it’s probably because they weren’t that good for us in the first place. I met a man who changed my life completely, if you have read my previous post you will know the full story but this isn’t about that.
There are some people in the world who want to white knight themselves, as I like to put it. These people are usually a bit narcissistic and can’t seem to genuinely just want to do a good deed without praise, or them getting some sort of self-gratification out of every situation.
The person I met thought he was my savior, I want to make note that I rolled my eyes just typing that.
“I’ve always been attracted to girls with some sort of extra baggage.” he told me once.
Immediately this rang a distant warning bell in my mind and I was actually quite offended. My depression isn’t cute, it’s not something I want someone to refer to as a trait to be attracted too. Unfortunately like a lot of people do, I pushed this strange comment to the back of my mind and filed it under “not important so forget it.” I do this a lot, I file potential warning signs from those whom I want to believe mean well.
At the time I honestly thought I was being saved, for a short time I felt excitement again, I felt happiness from the excitement and for someone who had suffered a two-year bout of depression, these emotions were addictive.
This person was not saving me, they weren’t even helping me, I just ignored it because I desperately wanted it to be picture perfect to believe it had all been worth the fight.
Eventually it led to them realizing their efforts weren’t paying off or being as rewarding as they would have hoped because I was getting worse. Their patience was up, and I was told to stop being sad and compared to all these other people who managed to pull themselves out of it.
This is the most disgusting thing you can say to someone who suffers from depression. I lost a baby 2 years ago at 19 weeks into my pregnancy, it’s true what they say, there is no time limit on grief.
No one can help us but ourselves, we have to want to be helped, and at that time I never asked to be saved, I didn’t realize it but before this person came along I was already on my own way to finding my own way out of the dark.
Don’t let someone cloud your judgement for their own self-gratification, don’t let someone tell you that they know best and they know what you need because they do not.
Especially if these people do not have any kind of qualification in mental illness and I can assure you if you seek professional help from lets say a psychiatrist, they are not going to tell you what they think you should do with your life. A professional will listen, and guide you, maybe help you achieve the goal you want to achieve but aren’t sure how to reach it.
I find this so important because if someone is trying to help you, no matter what their intentions are. Whether they think they are actually doing right by you or not, if they are not trained to deal with such matters they can do more damage than good.
I also understand that reaching out and getting help can initially be a big step. If you are like me, you may not like to open up to strangers or even talk about certain topics over and over, having to relive them again and again.
If you’re thinking about seeing a psychiatrist or any professional able to help you then my advice is don’t give up on it. If the first person you talk to you doesn’t suit you and you do not feel completely comfortable, it is perfectly okay to find someone else, establish a relationship first before you open up.
This is what I have had to do, it hasn’t happened overnight, I am not cured from my depression no matter how hard to wish I could be, but with my first-born on the way I want to get better.
It’s a journey I have realized I have to face alone, I am now a single mother at 26 and this does not scare me. I have had people, mind you it’s those who don’t have children and most guilty of this, tell me that it’s too hard on your own. This is exactly why we need to follow our own path, everyone is different, we all handle situations with different strengths.
You don’t know how strong you are until strong is all you have left.
Instagram @biancamcgibney
If you live within Australia and feel you need to talk to someone you can visit https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/national-help-lines-and-websites
The Good Dog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.