Surviving in the dark

For seven months I've been
Surviving in the dark
Every day a struggle
No light, no joy, no spark

Not wanting to get up
Not caring about much at all
Wishing it could be over
But trying hard not to fall

Celebrating small wins
Like getting out of bed
Fighting for perspective
Inside my heavy head

Searching for solutions
Trying anything I could
Battling the frustration
Of being misunderstood

Through all those endless weeks
I've never felt alone
God's been right beside me
His love I've always known

I can only imagine
How hard it would have been
Without support of church
And all the love within

Millions of people
Know this darkness in their lives
Don't know where to turn to
As their trying to survive

It's time to make a difference
To talk about the pain
To break taboos around it
Eradicate the shame

Depression is an illness
Sufferers are not strange
You can help so many
By supporting Time to Change

Xxxxx

I've been trying to write a poem about my depression for weeks, to express how it's felt and to raise awareness. It's no surprise that it's taken until now, when I'm finally feeling better, to see it come together.

It's been the most horrendous seven months, the absolute darkest of my life, which you will have probably seen in my poetry. 

And yet I've learned so much;
- about family and friendship and the importance of support
- about God, church and ministry and what I'm called to do
- about psychiatric services and their many pitfalls
- about poetry and its ability to heal
- about myself

Time to change is an amazing charity which works to challenge stigma about mental health.  It can happen to anyone, no one is immune.