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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Blogging, Openness, and Education about depression

There seems to be a run of emotional challenges lately, not only in my life and the people around me, but in the blogging world as a whole.  Some of my very favorite bloggers have written some really incredible and amazing posts about depression and mental illness lately.  And I am so honored by their courage to step up and talk about their personal experiences with this very difficult and often misunderstood challenge.  As I have struggled--sometimes mildly and sometimes very severely--with depression, anxiety and a few other issues in my personal life, and know that when you share that with people who never really have experienced true clinical depression or clinical anxiety, it can be disconcerting.  It can change the way a person looks at you or treats you because they don't understand it.  You don't have to understand it, I am still the same person I was yesterday and a decade ago--it is just a part of me that adds an extra layer of challenges  AND insights to life. 

As I have been struggling with a resurgence of it lately, and my ex is struggling with a really severe bout of it right now, I have been amazed at how many of my favorite hilarious bloggers have been open about it.  So I am going to post a few links to some of the things that they ahve said, because--one, I am not really brave enough to discuss my person demons online in a public blog, and two, they say it so well and so succinctly that I can not top it:

The first is Allie at Hyperbole and A Half, who does a great humorous and amazingly accurate description of what it is like: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html

The second is Jenny aka The Bloggess, who is just incredibly hilarious, but did this amazing post/video about depression http://thebloggess.com/2012/04/depression-lies/  Jenny says quite a bit about depression and struggle with mental health,  She is incredible and amazing, and a person whose courage and openness is just wonderful. Here is another post of hers on the subject: http://thebloggess.com/2012/01/the-fight-goes-on/

A third one, who keeps taking down her amazing posts about depression, but who is comical and real and raw is Emerald Wynn (whose post about a week ago I would have loved to have shared as it was very poignant, but alas she took it down).  So I will share another post of her where she is very real about depression (sandwiched in the middle of the post), as I really think it is important: http://emeraldwynn2.blogspot.com/2012/02/its-loneliness-thats-killer.html  And this post and the poemy thing at the end of this is definitely worth sharing:  http://emeraldwynn2.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-love-you-i-hate-you-but-ill-always.html And another one of hers on the topic that I  liked as well http://emeraldwynn2.blogspot.com/2009/06/invasion-of-body-snatchers.html  OH, and Second Life, which is what Em talks about and where the pics come from, is a virtual world where you can  meet real people from all over.  For me, who feels isolated living where I do without connections to the range of cultures and personalities and idea I am used to and need in my life, Second Life has given me the chance to meet and "hang out" with a wider variety of people.  Though with the work on the house, I have only stopped in world a couple of times in the past 6 weeks, so I am neglecting my second life some as my regular life is so insanely busy.  If anyone does go on, look me up and IM me or send a friend request--I am AlabasterCamel in world, and usually be found in UUTopia, LP, or Greek Gold (I know there are thousands of worlds in second life, but those are the three I frequent most often).





1 comment:

Emerald Wynn said...

Thank you for the mention and MY GOD MY LIFE IS A TRAIN WRECK! LOL - ugh - those older posts. In 2009 I had left a (very awesome) job in AZ to come home to TN and help my family with some stuff. That's kind of when everything crumbled.

I was going through the same hellish situation - unemployment and resulting depression - that I am now. It's like a pattern that will probably repeat itself over and over unless I get some professional help and retrain my brain. But where do low-income, unemployed people find shrinks? :(

(That wasn't a question that requires an answer from you, BTW - I was just babbling out loud.)

I had forgotten about that "poem" I wrote - blah, I read it and started bawling. I was a little more optimistic back then, I think.

Great post - I look forward to checking out the blogs you reference.