I get it. I didn't want to either. No one wants to be thought of as "whiny" or "weak". So we brush the symptoms under the carpet, refusing to admit them to other people, or even to ourselves. It's easy to say, "Oh, I'm just having a bad day" and not realise that you've been having a bad day every single day for the past six months. After a while the stress becomes normal and you just assume that it's perfectly natural to spend most of the day trying not to break down in tears.
The fact that I know so many people suffering from stress and similar ailments may have something to do with my knowing so many writers. I'm told writers are prone to this sort of thing, presumably because we have such vivid imaginations and so can picture doom-laden situations with frightening intensity. Also, as storytelling thrives on conflict writers are experts on figuring out how even the most promising of scenarios will end in disaster. If you don't believe me try reading the Facebook page of any given writer. Not the public page where they paste on their best fake smile as they try selling you their books, I'm talking about the private page where they talk about how bestselling authors are all hacks, that true storytelling is all about the craft, and why the hell haven't any of their books been made into Hollywood blockbusters? By the twelfth status update you'll be reaching for the Prozac. Obviously my Facebook page isn't like that. I make my self-pitying whining sound fun...
Anyway, this link offers lots of advice for dealing with different facets of stress, anxiety and depression as well as a quick self-assessment test for depression. Please take the test and if you score high enough please see your GP. Hopefully all you'll need is a few days off work or perhaps some low-level counselling. But without these early pre-emptive steps it could develop into something more serious. And all the time you're ignoring your symptoms you're making it harder for the people around you, leading to them developing their own problems with stress etc, and so we all become doomed to a never-ending cycle of depression and despair. (Sorry, this is starting to sound like a public information film from the '70s.)
But you can break the cycle. Even if you never quite erase your symptoms you can learn to manage them better and you can talk to other people so they spot the symptoms earlier in themselves. Life is a fucked up scary mess but we can all try to help each other get through it as best we can. Even if we only manage to bring a few moments of comfort to ourselves or those around us then we're winning. All of us, we're winning. (Okay, now it's starting to sound like a Hallmark card.)
So please share the link. And no, I don't mean that in a smug, judgmental "if you don't post this link then you're scum" kind of way. It's just an honest attempt to get the information out to as many people as possible, people who may genuinely need it. It's not intended as emotional blackmail. (Although if you don't share the link I will drown a kitten.)
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