Last Updated on August 26, 2015 by HodgePodgeDays
I used to have a general feeling that my mood, my mental health went in cycles, often dominated by the extremes of hormones rushing through my body each month. To some extent I think that’s true. It became normal for my mood to dip, for anxiety to pulse through my veins, for wild swings of rage and despair to appear and to feel the unrelenting panic of an anxiety attack. I never really mentioned this to my GP for fear they’d put me on the pill, something I’d like to avoid at all costs thank you very much.
Sometimes I found that I just was depressed or full of anxiety. Sometimes there was a trigger; maybe a comment or action by someone towards me. Something that would just edge me closer to falling into the black hole of my mental health. Swirling. Spinning. All consuming.
Sometimes there was nothing. No rational explanation for why everything was black.
I woke up yesterday and everything was black.
What I want to do is go to bed and cry it out. What I want to do is be held tight while the darkness seeps from my body, the little girl inside me wants to stop being frightened and fearful and anxious. She wants daddy to make the demons go away and to kiss it better. But I’m 38 and I’ve been standing on my own two feet for twenty years, so my two feet need to find their way out of this.
What I want to do is go to the pub and to drown the noise with drink. I want to sit and talk through the blackness with someone who knows and to laugh a little, cry a bit and go home with a grey heart, not a black one. But I can’t do that.
What I want and what will happen are two different things. It’s the school holidays, so I go to a soft play centre, the worst place imaginable if you’ve got a head full of negative noise and a heart as heavy as lead. So I force myself to go for a walk with the boy, who runs ahead laughing and chatting his head off about fire engines and dogs, and I try and focus on that, because it makes a small dark corner of my black heart glad. I make myself engage with people, because my silence and introspection achieve nothing but more darkness.
I do what I can to force myself into normal patterns of behaviour, edging slightly further back from the edge of darkness and negativity with each positive action.
But what I need, what the little girl inside me really needs, is a cuddle from my daddy to soothe the anxiety, and for him to shoo the dark demons away.
PS. I am often reminded of the artist in The Fast Show whenever I get like this, strangely watching a clip or two on YouTube can often brighten my mood. Top tips for depressives with a sense of humour there.
I love that you write so honestly and i love that you can put into words how you really feel deep down. I think the lil girl inside you needs to know that she is good enough and she’s always been good enough. Im not sure our parents who we looked to for comfort can always offer it in the ways in which we need/want. It’s a sad realisation that as we grow up we see that adults dont have all the answers and that they are usually dealing with their own issues too. Maybe growing up we thought that everyone wanted the best for us and showed us the love and respect we deserved.
you know i adore you and i would love to take all your hurts away. Stay strong my darling x
I can relate to this. Its the days where you feel you have no reason to feel so down. No excuses as such. Its those days that really get to me. I get annoyed with myself which in turn makes it worse. Getting out for a walk is the best thing to do if i can convince myself to do it. x x x always here if you need a chat
It comes and it goes, but while it’s here there’s no belief that it will ever go. With you avoiding the pill. I’m sure it contributed to my mood swings, and regret taking it for far too many years. Love the Fast Show clip. Yes. And your courage in writing about how hard it is. Yes.