Anthony Bourdain outside his former restaurant Les Halles in New York. Photo / AP
A facebook post discussing the realities of living with depression has gone viral.
The deaths of high profile personalities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain — who reportedly both battled depression — has brought the issue of mental illness into the spotlight.
As such, Charlene Nguyen thought it was timely to post this piece from an anonymous author on her Facebook page.
It has since been shared over 2700 times and has had over 1100 reactions.
Kristen Sandborn wrote: "This has me in tears … It's the best way I have ever heard my daily struggle described."
Another wrote: "This is the most beautifully written post I've seen about depression."
Here is the piece in full:
Now Anthony Bourdain.
When you have depression it's like it snows every day.
Some days it's only a couple of inches. It's a pain in the a**, but you still make it to work, the grocery store. Sure, maybe you skip the gym or your friend's birthday party, but it IS still snowing and who knows how bad it might get tonight. Probably better to just head home.
Your friend notices, but probably just thinks you are flaky now, or kind of an a**hole.
Some days it snows a foot. You spend an hour shovelling out your driveway and are late to work. Your back and hands hurt from shovelling. You leave early because it's really coming down out there. Your boss notices.
Some days it snows four feet. You shovel all morning but your street never gets ploughed.
You are not making it to work, or anywhere else for that matter. You are so sore and tired you just get back in the bed. By the time you wake up, all your shovelling has filled back in with snow. Looks like your phone rang; people are wondering where you are.
You don't feel like calling them back, too tired from all the shovelling. Plus they don't get this much snow at their house so they don't understand why you're still stuck at home. They just think you're lazy or weak, although they rarely come out and say it.
Some weeks it's a full-blown blizzard. When you open your door, it's to a wall of snow. The power flickers, then goes out. It's too cold to sit in the living room anymore, so you get back into bed with all your clothes on. The stove and microwave won't work so you eat a cold Pop Tart and call that dinner. You haven't taken a shower in three days, but how could you at this point? You're too cold to do anything except sleep.
Sometimes people get snowed in for the winter. The cold seeps in. No communication in or out. The food runs out. What can you even do, tunnel out of a forty foot snow bank with your hands? How far away is help? Can you even get there in a blizzard? If you do, can they even help you at this point? Maybe it's death to stay here, but it's death to go out there too.
The thing is, when it snows all the time, you get worn all the way down. You get tired of being cold. You get tired of hurting all the time from shovelling, but if you don't shovel on the light days, it builds up to something unmanageable on the heavy days. You resent the hell out of the snow, but it doesn't care, it's just a blind chemistry, an act of nature. It carries on regardless, unconcerned and unaware if it buries you or the whole world.
Also, the snow builds up in other areas, places you can't shovel, sometimes places you can't even see. Maybe it's on the roof. Maybe it's on the mountain behind the house. Sometimes, there's an avalanche that blows the house right off its foundation and takes you with it. A veritable Act of God, nothing can be done. The neighbours say it's a shame and they can't understand it; he was doing so well with his shovelling.
I don't know how it went down for Anthony Bourdain or Kate Spade. It seems like they got hit by the avalanche, but it could've been the long, slow winter. Maybe they were keeping up with their shovelling. Maybe they weren't. Sometimes, shovelling isn't enough anyway. It's hard to tell from the outside, but it's important to understand what it's like from the inside.
I firmly believe that understanding and compassion have to be the base of effective action. It's important to understand what depression is, how it feels, what it's like to live with it, so you can help people both on an individual basis and a policy basis. I'm not putting heavy sh*t out here to make your Friday morning suck. I know it feels gross to read it, and realistically it can be unpleasant to be around it, that's why people pull away.
I don't have a message for people with depression like "keep shovelling". It's asinine. Of course you're going to keep shovelling the best you can, until you physically can't, because who wants to freeze to death inside their own house? We know what the stakes are. My message is to everyone else. Grab a f***ing shovel and help your neighbour. Slap a mini snow plow on the front of your truck and plough your neighbourhood. Petition the city council to buy more salt trucks, so to speak.
Depression is blind chemistry and physics, like snow. And like the weather, it is a mindless process, powerful and unpredictable with great potential for harm. But like climate change, that doesn't mean we are helpless. If we want to stop losing so many people to this disease, it will require action at every level.
— Anonymous
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.
OR IF YOU NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE ELSE:
• LIFELINE: 0800 543 354 or 09 5222 999 within Auckland (available 24/7)
• SUICIDE CRISIS HELPLINE: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633 ,free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat.
• NEED TO TALK? Free call or text 1737 (available 24/7)
• KIDSLINE: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• WHATSUP: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
• DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757
• SAMARITANS – 0800 726 666.
Things are just beginning to heat up in Tāmaki Makaurau.