Studies say that almost 40% of the human population have problems with anxiety and 60% have some form of depression. I have both and for a little while I thought that that made me weird. I quickly found out that that was not the case. After some scrolling on my Facebook, which I have a rocky relationship with, I began to see posts that my mutual friends were re-posting that completely describe what I was feeling. Post like “The people that laugh the most are the ones that feel the most alone inside.”, and then the re-poster saying “Hint Hint.” Clearly referring to themselves.  I actually didn’t know I had severe depression until I was greatly advised (forced) to visit a therapist, who then diagnosed me.

My mind was subject to attention bias, I only started to pay attention to things when they seemed to include me in some shape or form. To be honest, I was a little bitter when I realized that I wasn’t the only one feeling lost and alone, mostly because I thought that it was impossible for so many people around me to be feeling the exact same way that I subconsciously felt. My initial reaction was that they were faking it to get attention because for some odd reason I thought that depression and anxiety was something that you had to keep to yourself and never tell anyone, that’s just how I was taught growing up.

Since there is no way to get around the inevitable fact that depression and anxiety is real and not a figment of our imagination, why do we portray it as a weakness? It all really means that we were all being too strong for too long with no time for recovery. I used to view depression and anxiety in a completely negative light. We should let these similarities unite us and help us all combat this horrible disease. We need to understand that we not alone in this maze.

No one should be forced to face this epidemic alone. Power is in numbers. Each one of us is essential. ♥