We think we our depression will be viewed as weakness.<\/strong>\u00a0Know this, Mama \u2013 you are\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0weak. The battle you are fighting, the war being waged in your mind can be a rough one.\u00a0One that you fight alone.\u00a0I say “alone” because you alone have to choose to battle. Sometimes every day.\u00a0The alternative is death \u2013 whether it be your happiness, your relationships, or perhaps even your actual life.\u00a0Remember that old saying, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle?”\u00a0Let’s acknowledge the strength it requires to handle this!<\/p>\n We don’t want the label.<\/strong>\u00a0 Many times artists, BIG personalities, class clowns and intensely creatives are known as \u201cdepressives.\u201d\u00a0Those<\/em>\u00a0are the labels we want, and many times hide behind those personas to mask the pain.\u00a0Or maybe we just want to blend in and be labeled as “normal.”\u00a0This suggests there is such a things as “normal” \u2013 but the truth is that everyone has something they deal with that is hard.\u00a0Those things do not have to define who we are … because we were created to be so much more than just one aspect of our life.\u00a0If anyone discounts you or judges you because of your depression, then that is their issue, not yours. You can’t control what others think. So let that go, Girl.<\/p>\n We don’t want it to affect our kids.\u00a0<\/strong>Many moms will hide their depression in the hopes that their kids will not be affected.\u00a0They\u00a0will<\/em>\u00a0notice.\u00a0They may not understand, but they will pick up on your sadness or anger.\u00a0I think it is important to be honest with kids about depression when they are at an age when they can understand. The worst thing is to pretend that you don’t have struggles. Kids don’t need you to be perfect, Mama.\u00a0And if you’re worried your own child may also have depression, as it can be genetic, then the best thing you can do is talk to her and model a healthy way to deal with it.\u00a0This could determine how she copes with it\u00a0for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n We don’t want to ask for help.<\/strong>\u00a0This is a big one for me! I used to take offense when someone would offer to help me with something. I took it as a sign of weakness and felt patronized. Motherhood has completely\u00a0humbled me in this area. With each kid, I’ve grown to understand that I literally cannot do it all.\u00a0It\u00a0does<\/em>\u00a0take a village.\u00a0I absolutely\u00a0need random mamas to watch my newly crawling baby, while I try to arrange food at my older kid’s school picnic.\u00a0I need people to hold the door for me and my gigantic\u00a0stroller with three kids hanging off it, loaded down\u00a0with snacks and backpacks at after-school pick-up. I also need someone to listen when I am at a low point.\u00a0I need someone to watch my kids for a bit so I can recharge my introvert batteries. Being able to ask for help is no longer a weakness in my mind.\u00a0It is a strength.<\/p>\n Mama, YOU ARE LOVED, by God, your family, your kids and your friends.\u00a0This depression thing isn’t something you have to bury deep.<\/p>\n Let’s seek the Lord, our loving father, who made us perfectly who we are for a reason. He did not intend for our depression to ruin us,\u00a0but to help us look to\u00a0him for comfort and happiness and purpose. He sits with us in those dark moments, whispering to open the word and speak truth over this disease.<\/p>\n Depression is hard, it is a battle, but it is also a facet of who you are that shouldn’t be completely hidden and ignored.\u00a0You don’t have to wear a T-shirt that says #depressed<\/em><\/strong>, but you do need to search out that corner of your being and care for it.\u00a0Shine a light on it, so that perhaps you can\u00a0be\u00a0a light eventually for someone else in the same struggle.<\/p>\n
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Greta Ford is a SAHM currently living with her hubby and three kiddos as ex-pats\u00a0in the Netherlands. She just relearned how to ride a bike, and thinks life is best when\u00a0surrounded by books, houseplants and that cup of coffee that has been re-heated at least three\u00a0times.\u00a0Read more at her blog