
Silent Killer
I write about personal sexperience. All my stories are about my life, my experience and this is no different. This topic is hard but we must talk about it. I have been struggling with Stress and Depression. Admitting this is difficult as I like to keep to myself and I usually can get out of the darkness. But lately it’s been a little more difficult to find the light. With all the ups and downs, I am truly blessed and Thank Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But even with all the blessing it gets hard keeping my head up and finding joy. I decided to talk about this as April is Stress Awareness month. Research shows that in 2023 one in four of us struggle with stress. This is 26% up 3 points from last year. One in four suffer from some type of mental disorder and one in ten will suffer from a depressive illness like depression or bipolar disorder. The American Institute of Stress reports that 120,000 people die every year as a result of work-related stress.
I am giving you this information to bring light on an issue that sometimes is hard to talk about. Especially in today’s world where social media makes us believe that everyone lives a perfect life. We all put a smile online and fail to talk about all the struggles. We also tend to not talk about those hard topics to family and friends in fear of being judged. I am a first generation American, well I was raised here so I consider myself American, which makes it even harder to talk about as words like “but you have so much to be thankful for” are always thrown in my face. So I have to work through these issues myself and learn some techniques that I now wanna share with anyone that is struggling and has nowhere to turn.
The first thing I do is Pray. I pray to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, but you can pray to whomever you believe in. I am not here to judge nor to say one is better than the other. I am simply letting you know that praying helps me relax. I feel the comfort of the Lord when I turn to him. Second, I like to turn my brain off. I turn my audiobook on and block everything else out. I do this several times a day. I like to take 10 minutes to just turn my brain off when I start feeling agitated or overwhelmed. Third, I personally find that decluttering helps me decompress. The feeling of getting rid of stuff just makes me feel like a weight is off. I have written before about the minimalist lifestyle I am adapting. Decluttering helps with all that. Four, I used to be the person to take on so many projects because I did not want to miss out on an opportunity. Now I am very reserved with my time and schedule. I do not take on projects that do not bring me joy or are not going in the direction that I want to go. This leads to my final tip, I put myself first. My joy, my time, my feelings, my comfort are my number one priority. Putting myself first allows me to not feel stressed or depressed as I am doing things I wanna do not things I feel obligated to do.
I share my story so you don’t feel alone. We are all struggling with something in our lives and it’s ok to talk about it. Your mental state matters. You matter and this world is better with you in it. If you ever need help the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 9-8-8 and the text is 741741. Please dial or text available 24/7. John 15:9 “As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love.”

