Just Grey: In a Black & White World

Depression

*this isn't a chapter

       About every forty seconds, someone (somewhere) commits a suicide. That's 1.5 suicides every minute, ninety suicides every hour, and 2,160 suicides every day.

        In America, in estimate, 44,193 citizens die of suicide attempts. That's 44,193 people too many.

       You know what the TENTH leading cause of death in the US (alone) is?

       It's suicide.

       In the US, for every successful suicide, there are TWENTY FIVE suicidal attempts. That's twenty five too many.

       There are about 121 suicides every DAY only in the US. That's 121 too many.

       In Poland, 16.6 of 100,000 people commit suicide. There's about forty million people living there currently. That's 6,640 suicidal deaths.

       In Ukraine, fifty percent of all military-related deaths are suicides.

       In Sudan, twenty-three men and eleven women of 100,000 people commit suicide.

        And in Belarus, more people die of suicide (2,000 a year) than road-related accidents.

        My loves, fifty percent of all suicides are of people diagnosed with severe depression.

         Five to eight percent of adults are affected by depression.

        Too many people joke about depression, self-harm, suicide, and self-oppression. The people who make fun of these things just don't understand the pain, hurt, stress, frustration, hopelessness, weakness, and aching those with even just mild depression experience.

        And, too often, they do understand it.

         But you shouldn't have to understand the incapacitation of depression to have an idea of how important it is. Nobody deserves to feel like we do. We don't deserve to feel like we do.

       And if you don't have depression and never have, don't cross the borders and even try to define depression, offend someone, make a joke of it, or mock the disease. Because it is a disease and, bloody hell, it's contagious.

        If you're sad for a week, you're not depressed - I promise you. So stop saying you are (if you're saying that). If your heart is aching, if you can't sleep, if you can't wake up, if you can barely eat, if you zone out, if you have physical pain often, if you think you can't reach out to people, if you feel hurt, offended, and empty all of the time, then you're most likely depressed.
 
         Depression is a real thing with real symptoms and it affects real people. And those people deserve better.

          Reach out, smile, offer help, give space, and respect boundaries. Just do it. It's not that hard to put effort into your people skills, I promise.

         I'm just trying to spread awareness. Too many times do I wake up and go to school every day just to hear bullshit and intentionally offensive words. There are some things that just aren't okay to joke about - though some jokes are funny to some people, they can be sensitive topics for others. So just be aware.

         I don't write because I want attention. I don't write for publicity, something to pass the time, or because a teacher or parent makes me.

         I write because I know that someone out there needs something to relate to and that they need hope.
       
         I write because it makes me feel good to get out my feelings.
   
         I write because it's what I'm good at.

          I write because it makes me happy, and, somewhere, it makes someone else happy too, or at least I hope so.

          I write to spread awareness. Suicide, teen pregnancy, rape, cancer, heart disease, abuse, divorce, death of a loved one, neglect, poverty, depression. It's just what I do, and I love it.

        Thank you for reading this note; please don't forget these things. Just be aware and courteous of others' feelings because you don't know someone's story - no matter how much you think you do.

        I love all of you. To my depressed readers, there is hope; I promise there is. My message board is always open, or, for faster responses, you can dm my instagram @itskateanyways

         Short people are beautiful, tall people are attractive, thin people are pretty and heavy-set bodies are gorgeous. Brunettes/brunets are calming, blonde/blonds are striking, and redheads are awesome. Blue eyes, brown eyes, hazel, green, red, black, golden, all are amazing colors and look perfect on you. Your personalities are unique whether or not you think you're average, you're smart and good at something whether or not you see it, somebody wants you, and somebody loves you.

       To my non-depressed readers, you guys are also amazing. Be thankful for what you have, get educated, and please look out for those not in the same mindset as you.

       Love yourselves. Because I do.

       With love and care,

- Kate <3