HELP! I'VE LOST MY MIND!
Apparently, May is 'Mental Health Awareness' month. I guess it's an opportunity to shed more light and awareness on something which should be the most normal thing in the world, except to many it still seems taboo.
As a long term sufferer of depression, real depression, major depression, you know the type where you literally cannot get out of bed, function nor eat and death seems preferable to existing type, not 'I'm feeling a bit low today'. Since a child I remember sweeping feelings of dark melancholy, a sadness I could not shake off that would often come out of nowhere, not necessarily triggered by a specific event where it would be natural to feel sad. A deeply sensitive empathic child evolved into the adult I am today who has endured many things in this life that would push most people over the edge and I joke that my very dark humour has got me through, though the reality is, sometimes it didn't...
I'm not ashamed to talk about years of therapy and the study of hypnosis which all helped enormously to understand myself and the complex workings of the mind, which to be honest, in my opinion, human's don't really understand at all despite millions of studies and schools of thought.
Ancestral trauma? Genetics? Deep buried trauma? A different perspective on a fucked up world?
Chemical inbalance? I would say all of the forementioned and more...
I am also not ashamed to talk about 'POST NATAL DEPRESSION' or suicidal tendencies or deep overwhelming grief which not only applies to the loved ones I've lost but also to others I'm trying to help whilst they slowly agonizingly kill themselves...
And just about anything else you wish to discuss.
Life is raw, painful, beautiful, incredible, horrific and just about any other adjective you wish to throw at it.
What is a sane person? Well, that's open to interpretation but in my view it's someone who looks around them at the state of the world, wide eyed with horror, confusion and sadness, whose favourite expression is, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!
So, yes, it's okay to not be okay: Find kind, caring people who are willing to listen, seek out what works for you, whether it be a combination of therapy with orthodox medicine or natural medicine, places of calm and peace and an understanding that this world is hugely difficult to navigate at the best of times but Post Pandemic, War fuelled 2023 is far from an easy place to be.
In my upcoming book, 'Life's too short for ironing' written under my pen name Saffron Mello Castro there are various thought pieces and personal stories relating to all of the above and more.
Just remember , 'Opinions are like arse holes, everyone has one' listen to your heart and only seek out those who truly understand the reality of mental illness, not those who simply tell you to 'pull yourself together and get on with it'. It's time to break the stigma once and for all.
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