Imagine, if you will, that you are having a really bad week. On Monday, a very dear friend was diagnosed with a terminal illness. On Tuesday, your teenage son got in trouble at school and was suspended. On Wednesday, you had a blowout on the highway, at rush hour, on your way home from work. On Thursday, your air conditioning unit at your house gave out and it’s August in Texas! Finally, to top off the week, on Friday, you got laid off at work!
That’s quite a week, isn’t it? How do you think you’d feel by the end of this week?
I recently had a couple of weeks like this, and I can tell you how I felt. My stomach was in knots, and I felt like I was carrying about 30 extra pounds on my shoulders. My head felt like it was going to explode, I had trouble concentrating, and I had very little motivation or energy. Can any of you relate to the feelings I’ve described?
These feelings were brought on by a number of very stressful events in my life. Imagine, though, that you experienced these feelings of anxiety and stress, of being crushed under the weight of your problems, but no stressful events had occurred.
Imagine that same level of stress and feeling overwhelmed was caused, not by big problems, but by the little everyday things that most of us take for granted: things like getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, showering, or driving to work. This is what it’s like for people with major depression, a serious mental illness that affected over 19 million adults in the United States alone in 2019.
People with chronic depression are often told to “think positive thoughts” or “just snap out of it.” Unfortunately, these well-intentioned suggestions only add to their pain. They’d like nothing more than to “just snap out of it,” but they can’t.
Perhaps you have a family member who sleeps all the time or a neighbor who can’t seem to hold down a job. Rather than judging the person as lazy or weak, try reaching out to him and asking if everything is okay or if there’s anything you can do to help. If you’re tempted to tell this person to “just snap out of it,” remember this scenario of “the week from hell.” Think about how you would feel, and offer a listening ear rather than judgment or advice.
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