Depression: The Beginning

I’ve realized that the core of most people’s depression starts with their loved ones. It happened to me with my mother; my friends and their parents and others who I don’t know. Every time it is brought to my attention, I sit back wonder to myself, why be it always the closest people to you are the ones who talk down to you, or belittle you? I wonder if anyone has the answer to that. Is it because they know and know what to say to put you down? Or is that called “tough love” to make you push yourself to be the best that you can?

Whatever the case may be, people shouldn’t do things like that. More than anything your family and friends should be the ones who bring your spirits up and support you in whatever you set your mind on doing.

The problem is I see this more with African-Americans. Do these people realize what they are doing? In my opinion, I don’t think so. With this happening, more people have low self-esteem. Another outcome is the ones who are being verbally abused change who they are within and act out as a different person. For an example, if I were to be in this situation again, I would live up to other people’s expectations of me instead of being who I am. To break out of this, the ones who are being put down have to break out of that and be stronger. With that being said, a few things can help a person in this type of situation:

• Keep a journal or diary to express your feelings about this and to vent
• If it’s your parents, and you live with them; find a job, save up, and move out to start a new life
• Find a hobby/passion to get your mind off the bad things that are happening. It will give you a since of relief.

I think that once when you feel better about yourself and you are doing better, go back to the people who did you wrong and talk about it. Get the answers to why they said the things that they did to put you down. Learn to forgive and forget, if you can’t forget learn from the experience and it will put an end to your grief and feel as one with yourself at last.

“We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us!”