“Are you okay?” The words are being thrown around left, right, and centre today. The school children are wearing yellow. Businesses send out emails to their employees. Supermarket and retail employees sport their yellow wristbands. If only people took it seriously every day, instead of just one day a year…
Australia Day, the 26th of January, is a controversial date but the reason behind the celebration isn’t what a lot of people think. There is so much to unpack here, so I hope you will take the time to read this.
Okay, so here’s the thing, the biggest ‘confession post’ yet: I have the truth, and you need to know it.
The main reason I haven’t done any posts lately is honestly that I have had so many things to say, and I have not known how to begin. There are so many things that I want to tell you… not only things I want to tell you but things that you really need to know. It might take me a while to get them all out to you, but we have to start somewhere, and where better to start than with the basic truth?
These are the reasons we commemorate Anzac Day. This is a day where we, as Australians, remember those who served and those who gave their lives in war. Anzac Day is a day of national remembrance, not a day of celebration. We don’t say “Happy Anzac Day”. We say “Lest We Forget”.
It’s that time again… not just the ending of another year, but the end of another decade. This is a time where many people are making their new year resolutions, and talking about fresh starts.
2019 has been a year of ups and downs, and tonight, I’m considering what I am going to take with me into not only 2020, but this new decade, and the future. I wonder what you want to take with you? What are some things you’d like to leave behind? Here are a few things to think about:
Whether you call it R U OK Day, or Suicide Prevention Day, this is it. The 12th of September. This is the day where we want to message or call every single one of our friends and family and ask them, are you okay? How are you doing? How is life, and are you really … Read More
Often people are living life working towards big goals, some are completing bucket lists, others are living in the moment, some people are working towards saving to have a good retirement, and there are some who are great at procrastination, too. But, to put things into perspective, ask yourself this question: If you died tonight, … Read More
‘Just look on the bright side!’
‘It’s not as bad as you think it is!’
‘If you just focus on the positives, you’ll feel better.’
‘Your life is wonderful, you don’t need to be depressed!’
We’ve all heard them, and a lot of us have even said them. But you know what? These things don’t help (believe it or not)! I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again; people like us, we can’t just look on the bright side to feel better. If it were that simple, who would need antidepressants? Therapists would be out of a job, and we would all be ‘okay’! Here are a few reasons why you really shouldn’t tell someone with a mental illness (or even someone who is seriously struggling with something) to just ‘look on the bright side’:
A phrase that often goes through my head is “some days are better than others”, and I have often used this in my posts and stories, simply because it is so true. Some days are great! Other days are average. And some days, we feel like we are in a living hell.
We might be too tired to fight it; things seem too difficult to keep pressing on. But even if some days the only thing I do is survive, I will not give up. If I wrote out my entire life story, not once would you read that I gave up, and this is why:
Dearest Friend,
Some days really are better than others. For me at the moment, there are a lot of days that are better than the ones in the present. And there are some things you need to know.
I understand that you are one of many people who go through life having no idea what it is to feel depressed or to experience anxiety. And that’s okay too. But for those of us who do, it can be incredibly difficult to explain what’s going on in our minds, but it’s also difficult for you to understand us.
Yes, it’s okay to not feel okay. I mean, hey. It’s not alright that people have to go through this, that fact is just awful. But this is to you, my friend, who doesn’t know what it’s like, and I ask you to take a moment to read just four things that we struggling people really want to tell you…
