Saving A Life

Last month, the world and I was shaken at the poignant news that Robin Williams was dead. As the tributes aired on television while I lay in the hospital bed I thought of his life. When I found out the cause of his death I was automatically heartbroken for his suffering. The existence of depression has the same effects as the existence of cancer. Those of us who know depression understand the darkness and the constraints it places on our life. My beautiful cousin from Kosciusko was mentioning how depression is a place that we can stay there and have a pity party but we can’t stay there in that state. Another expression my cousin from Pensacola stated of how people can be cold and add to your negative mood but fortunately ice melts! If we realize as human beings that everything is temporary, maybe we can accept that our depression is temporary. We can experience joy if we allow it to enter our lives and maybe we can become happy in just knowing that our state of darkness is temporary. Life will improve and we have to stay alive to feel and accept that happiness!

Robin Williams was an extraordinary talented individual and his ability to make others laugh and his ability to entertain people had to be his umbrella during his storms of life. Everyone has an umbrellain a figurative sense to help us survive, it is like a crutch. My umbrella is my writing and poetry that saves me when the storm feels like a flood is coming. Yes, I suffer from depression and often my writing and poetry does not save me during a storm. God saves me each time I am depressed. I can’t comprehend how anyone can live each day without a religion for comfort, meditation, and prayer. However, I know people who know God and have attempted to commit suicide or have committed suicide. As the darkness within depression stays in our brain and keeps us stuck in a motionless state, it slowly kills our spirit until we are no longer rational. We already feel dead and so we want to end it all because we have no more life. We are actually a shell without the ability to think, feel and react to anything joyful or painful. Yes, the darkness state is a killer because it is like an umbrellathat is not functioning during a storm. Visualize the wind that forces the umbrella out of our hand and we gradually become wet. We are soaked, cold and drowning in the storm and we can’t feel the water but we can feel the storm! The average person can feel the wetness and shake from the coldness and react by finding shelter during a storm. A person who is depressed will stay in the same spot and can’t react, respond and challenge to save themselves.

There is significant hope for those of us who suffer from depression. Medication and therapy are helpful tools in keeping depression controlled. In my experience I know there are various levels of depression for everyone and it can fluctuate just like the weather. A tragic event can cause depression to emerge at 100% when it originally stayed at a 50% level. Those moments where everything is painful is the time to contact National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or Veteran Crisis Line and reach out to your loved ones, organizations, clergy, and doctors! Don’t ever feel alone and don’t ever think that you would be better off dead because you are incorrect; it is your irrational thinking during those moments! It is too late for our dear and talented actor, Robin Williams. It is too late for the many friends that we have lost along the way and my battle buddies in the military. As long as we are living and breathing and no matter what we are experiencing in this life, it is never too late and it is not too late for us! It is never too late for you and it is not too late for you and right now it is time to become a survivor of depression!

Family and friends please constantly remind your loved ones of how much you love them and need them in your lives! We can’t just be there for someone when tragic events occur but we should be there for each other during the laughter and the pain. We should never become complacent. Depression on any level can prevent us from functioning and wanting to complete or work on our favorite hobbies and talents. I can’t imagine the several times that I have worked on a project and the next day I just can’t work on it. I find myself being in the bed with the covers over my head as the only acceptable option. My husband will tell me to get up and set up in the chair. My depression is related to my last deployment and the multiple pains that I suffer from every day. Another aspect of my depression is that the dreams of reaching the top as a Command Sergeant Major or Warrant Officer in the military and a Director within Kaiser are just dreams now. I have launched my website; however, I have not reached the millions of people to respond to my website. I have large numbers who are stopping by but only a few have left comments. Again, I have to keep on writing and know that most of the writing is for my own therapy and to help others.

Those who are experiencing more bad days than good days, it is time to seek professional help and assistance. In the year 2014 we are blessed and fortunate to have various types of medication and therapies to keep us in the light. Even if the light is dim, there is a light! Each of us is placed on this Earth for a reason and a purpose, utilize your gifts and talents by living each day until God decides it is time for you to come home! God bless Robin Williams and his family! We are losing too many people every day to suicide and it is time to start saving our family and friends who are suffering from depression. Often we miss the signs and we don’t realize it until it is too late, but we have to become meddlesome to save a life! From this day forward, we have to reach out to our family and friends and check on them and their condition. I often would ask people, how is your spirit? Your spirit affects every aspect of your body and if your spirit is damaged, your heart is damaged and your body becomes weak and your brain can not concentrate and become dysfunctional. May the life of Robin Williams be remembered by saving the life of thousands of people today, tomorrow and for the coming years!

God bless you all! Save a life and save your life by reaching out!!!!

 Joan