Many times on this journey of Battling the Dark Side I've found myself wishing this was Cancer instead of fighting Depression and Anxiety. People understand cancer. People understand cancer treatments make you sick. People understand that cancer effects the whole family. People raise money for fighting Cancer.
Truthfully, I don't wish our fight was cancer. I just wish people understood this is a hard battle.
People don't understand Depression, Anxiety, and the rest of the mental health trials. The last statistics I saw from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) says "1 out of 20 Americans 12 years of age and older experience current depression."
So to bring those numbers home more logically I have 20 houses on my street with an average of 3 people over the age of 12. (20*3=60) Out of 60 people 3 people on my street are experiencing depression This Moment.
I am not alone in this battle.
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month.
Help family members get help. Don't be afraid to drive to the emergency room, or call a hotline. The family member may be mad for a moment, but a moment is not a lifetime.
Circling back to the cancer topic. I was asked to bring dinner to a dear friend name Hillary. Yes Hillary is her real name. When the compassionate service leader called and asked if I could bring Hillary a meal on Thursday, saying yes to the meal was easy. I looked at my calender and saw how busy Thursday night was, and had know idea how to get her the meal on time, but thought to myself, "We're not fighting cancer. We can do this."
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