The Dark

In my darkest days it seemed nothing could bring life back into my empty shell of a body.
I didn’t have thoughts to consider the idea of being helped or saved. I couldn’t feel the vast emptiness that clogged my brain and body.
I lay in bed all day; never eating, never speaking, never moving,
I stayed this way for months on end.
So how did I manage to overcome this poisonous weed known as depression?
I had 2 saving graces that reintroduced me to life, and to sanity.

The Awakeners

My family was always trying to help me.
Even after months of the depression that I experienced so radically, they never gave up on me. Every day my granddad poked his head into my room and asked if I wanted to go on a walk with him. Finally I agreed.
And as time moved on and I walked farther and deeper into the woods, I began to wake up again.
My mom was always understanding, pushing me when necessary and giving me space when I needed it. After I started to come out of it she would always encourage me slowly at first then more regularly as time went on to go out and do activities, whether it be volunteering or just sitting outside.
My family was a crucial part of my awakening.
Now I will always know that no matter what life throws at me; my family will always be there to help me through it.

The Truth

When I first started to go walking, I could never go very far because I was so weak.
However, after time I went farther and longer.
Being out in the forest and on the water had a very calming and soothing effect on me.
It was like I could feel and sometimes even see the energy in the air.
It felt like that energy seeped into me revitalizing me and giving me the strength to heal.
My family gave me the reason to return into the world I had isolated myself from.
Nature gave me the strength and the awareness to return to my life and move on.
What I learned out in the forest and on the water was something not a lot of people fully appreciate.
It gave me a whole new reverence and respect for life. Life is not something you should take for granted as its fragile and short and time moves ever so swiftly. Things constantly change all around us and some people don’t even notice or care about that because they never take the time to look. They never appreciate what a wonderful gift they have until they lose it or someone they know looses it. Life is not a right that everyone has; it is a privilege that you should not treat lightly. And I for one will never forget that.