Depression and being grateful: An oxymoron
There were countless times when I told people I have depression, they told me to “Look at the silver linings.”
“You have nothing to be depressed about. You have a roof over your head, food to eat and clothes to wear. There are other people that are struggling more than you.”
“You are only in your 20s, you havent taste what life can give you.”
And the biggest one yet, my favourite top notch line
“Count your blessings. You have a lot to be grateful for. You just need to put your faith in God fully.”
Here’s the thing, if we can do all that, we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place. The thing is, depressed people brains are wired to think negatively. It’s like a default. Whenever something bad happen, we immediately beat ourselves up. But, being grateful is not something we dont know how to do.
In fact, more often being grateful is something we know well enough.
We are grateful to be alive just another day because yesterday me might think to end it ourselves. We are grateful to have people that literally push us out from our misery without complaining. Our support. We are grateful for the good days we have. Something we have once in a blue moon. We are very grateful for the good times we spend with our friends and family because we usually push them away when we are having a hard time. We are grateful to have people that don’t stigmatised us. We get that a lot.
Ask a depressed person, they know their blessings. They do, trust me.
Depressed people are not ungrateful. We are forgetful. We are consumed with our darkness that we need help to see the light. We need help. That is all.
So a little help, a little support is a glimmer of hope for us to see better, to be better.
To me depression and being grateful are not mutually exclusive. You can be depressed yet be grateful with your life and all your blessings. An oxymoron.
Love, Ordinarily Existing