It's Okay to Not Be Okay

This week is Mental Health Week, and obviously, with years of struggling with depression, this is an important awareness week for me.

So, call me blunt, but here’s the thing. It’s okay to not be okay. There have been several times where I have definitely not been okay. But you need to realize that the only way it gets better is by learning to pick yourself up, emotionally. You can definitely have support, but you can’t push all your needs on people.

In therapy, my therapist and I would talk about carrying other people’s baggage – and that is definitely a trigger of mine, making me more depressed. Whether you have a depressed friend or you are the depressed friend (or you’re like me and you’ve been on both ends), you need to be responsible for yourself.

Think of a baby learning how to walk. They don’t get it right away, some babies use the side of the coffee table for support, others have little walkers. When you struggle, you need friends and family to be your coffee table, but ultimately, it’s up to you.

It’s okay to not be okay sometimes, but the only way it gets better is when you realize you have to be the one who decides “I am going to be okay, and I am going to make myself find that strength.”

You have that strength in you, you just have to find it. And then someday, you will realize, you’ll be more than okay.

If you are feeling suicidal, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 (800) 273-8255 or visit them here. Suicide is not the answer, I promise. Life can be what you make of it, why give up when you have so much to work for?