Depression and Me

-By Idalida Luna-

We just moved to another city; my husband job has been changed to one that requires much traveling and 

I found myself, in a new environment, pregnant, and lonely.

Few years after, when I study about depression in a master’s class y realize, yes during that time I was depress.

Are you suffering from depression?  To answer that question we need first to define depression.

Depression is a disorder characterize by a persistent feeling of sadness, loss of interest, tiredness, sleep disturbances, indecision, poor concentration and loss of confidence.

A state of mind often as a result of a lost, it sounds familiar? Yes all of us who are working away from what we consider familiar, may be experiencing depression

Now, do not panic, depression is a disorder that lay in a continuum, which means that most human being live with a mild form of depression, which is, we can say normal considering the circumstances.

Most of us, who lived or work outside of our homelands, has in one way or another, lost the personal contact with our extended family, long term friends, the familiar neighborhood, where we feel safe and know well where and how to shop, the use of our mother tongue and more and more.

Therefore it is more likely we are all experiencing some degree of depression,

What you need to know is, if your depression is a mild one due to circumstances on life or if you need specialized help.

So here we go, to know what kind of depression you are experiencing. You need to answer a question:

Is this feeling of sadness interfering with my everyday life until the point it does not allows me to live a normal life?

If you wake up every morning, groom yourself and face a new day with the desire to accomplish many goals, do daily chores and you, eat and applied to your work. Your depression is very mild and you do not need to worry about.

If you wake up every morning and as soon as you wake up you fear the beginning of a new day and just wish not to have those feeling, if you kind of force yourself to left your bed because your know you have to do what is expected from you. Your depression is threatening to interfere with your regular life and you need to pay attention to it and look for some solutions to the problem.

Now, if you just hate a new day and rather be in your room, you have no desire to eat, you don’t want to talk, to meet people, and have lost all interest in what is happening around you. You need help; you need to find ways to work with these strong feeling and symptoms of depression, because you need to be happy again.

In the Bible there is a beautiful promise from God in Isaiah 41: 13 the Lord told you today, “Do not be afraid. I am here to help you”. So even so you are in a foreign land, you are not alone God is close to you and he wants to help you with your feelings of loneliness.

But that’s not all, in the same text, we find a loving God who said “I am holding you by your right hand.

 Are you suffering from depression? He said to you “I have called you by Name, you are mine. When you go through deep waters or great trouble, I will be with you” Isa. 43:1

And that’s not all, He tells you today; “You are precious to me, you are honored and I LOVE YOU” Isa. 43:4

 

How comforting is this promise. He is not just here to help you, but to hold your hand when you are experiencing some trouble facing depression, he sees you as precious and He loves you.

Make these promises your own, and face this new day with hope and strength, because you are not alone!