Depression: The Lonely Road To Suicide

By Chioma Adebiyi

In an unspeakable way, depression creeps into lives, slowly, but steadily, and with time, it starts dwelling deep inside of you. It starts with an undeniable longing for more in life, that yearning takes over the mind. You just yearn for more, more of power, love, money and so on. And you ask yourself can you ever be contented with what life has to offer?

Indeed life is filled with inconsistencies, impossibilities and much more. Hence the earnest search and desire to feel, act and look adequate is an unending hunger that is insatiable. And the apparent impossibility leads to sadness, loneliness, and finally depression and possibly suicide.

Without a doubt, the road to this destructive force called depression has its root somewhere in the mind, looking for the right, moment to express itself.

I once knew a woman, who felt inadequate for being unmarried at 50, she had no job, no fortune, no spouse and no child to call her own. She was overwhelmingly sad and guess what? She felt totally responsible for her misfortune and little by little, she began to withdraw from people including friends and family members.

She began to snap easily at people, ate and slept less because she felt she didn’t deserve to enjoy such privileges. And not too longer after, she began to lose weight because of her lack of appetite. And she appeared so miserable to behold as well. This continued for months. She was deeply depressed and could not help it because it had slowly and gradually eaten deep into her soul, body and mind.

One day she disappeared, no body saw or heard from her. Weeks later, her body was discovered inside a deep well in an abandoned uncompleted building. She had committed suicide. It was sad, to say the least, many wished they had reached out to help her, but that was too late too.

Depression is a stern situation that shapes your physical and mental health. It leads to a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of significance. Sadly it is not something that you can get rid of easily.

If discovered on time, one will need not just medication but therapy as well to heal from it. And if proper care is not given afterwards, there is a likelihood of having a relapse. It is energy draining and it is not something one can snap out from easily no matter how strong one can be. It is so controlling, well at least it seems so. But with determination and perseverance it can be defeated though it takes a whole lot of patience and persistence too.

One awesome and old strategy that kills depression is exercise it is not just a great depression killer it is also one of its best tools. It is as efficient as taking a prescribed drug and it not just kills depression, it hinders depression from showing its dreadful face again. It is also a great energy booster.

Though it could be extremely difficult to go for an exercise when you are depressed but once you put your mind to it, it becomes easy to get through it. Furthermore, when you are depressed it is always good to connect with friends and loved ones, it is essential to sleep and eat well too. Push yourself to do the things you find pleasure doing. I purposely used the word ‘push’ because a depressed person finds it so hard to do things that would make him or her happy, one would rather recline sadly to a secluded spot.

After five years of suffering from depression, a colleague of mine understood that she had the ability to break away from it after she graduated from the university. While in school, she lived a lonely life, no friends, and no social activities. One could predict her routine – from hostel to class and back to the hostel. Eventually she graduated and went for the compulsory youth service, that was when she finally found the will to mingle and she realized what she had missed while in school.

This realization changed her life forever; it empowered her to search for ways to reorganize her life. She faced the task of reliving who she was and what she wanted out of life. She started by having a deep reflection on her total existence, she also saw  a therapist and spent quality time talking through her challenges with friends and loved ones. This enabled her to identify the fundamental personality problems that caused her intense sadness.

After recognizing the issues she began to remodel herself, and with time, she built up a happy and positive state of mind. The terrible times in her life led her to discover the importance of it. The sadness and negativity that once clouded her mind, made her realize how equipped she was, with strength and power to conquer all the obstacles that comes her away. The sadness that she felt for five years finally gave way to total freedom, confidence, happiness and contentment.

She can confidently say that she knows she has the power to transform herself, and return to a happy place. And she strives to keep this perspective when facing challenges in her life because it is easy to get lost in the day-to-day ups and downs.

If you feel depressed, And if you feel like hurting yourself please seek professional help from competent professionals, as soon as you can. If you’re reluctant to seek treatment, talk to a friend or a loved one, or better still someone you can depend on. Indeed there is no definite way to prevent depression, but enhancing your self-esteem and reaching out to loved ones, can help weather the storm.

Break loose and find something that you love doing and DO IT!.

Force yourself, propel yourself push yourself fight depression with all that you have got because depression leads to suicide.  

Always look on the bright side of life, and be hopeful for a better tomorrow.