When it comes to talking about my mental health, I'm never uncomfortable with the subject. I'm well aware of my state and have been struggling with it for many years — probably around six or seven years now. I'm not ashamed of my depression. However, I'm not always willing to own up to my actions or behavior that are a result of it. I know other people feel the same way and are sometimes embarrassed when it's discussed. But I feel it's important to acknowledge these things so others know that we aren't just being lazy.
Some days we might not get out of bed at all
This is something that I feel is pretty common among people who struggle with depression. There are just some days where getting up from bed and functioning in society is mentally and emotionally draining. We get tired of putting on this facade every day that we're OK, but in reality, we aren't. And that's OK, but we just need a day to rest.
We may struggle to maintain our appearance
Basically, this is the more subtle way of saying we may lack in hygiene. As I said before, just getting out of bed is difficult for someone who is depressed. This is true for other everyday activities as well, like showering. Or maybe we do shower, but we won't wash our hair or put on clean clothes. Hearing this probably sounds kind of gross, so why might some do it? Because we're exhausted. And not just physically.
We're not always the most organized
This one can be for a lot of different things. Normally, it manifests in our room (especially with myself, oops). Now, some people are just naturally messy. But when you're extremely depressed, it's not uncommon for that to escalate. People will do things like taking food back to their room and trash gets left there because, more often than not, getting that food was one of the few times they actually got out of bed all day.
While there are a lot of other things, these are just a few possibly common things that really depressed people tend to relate to, whether or not they will admit it out loud. We get embarrassed about it because we know we shouldn't be acting that way, but we can't help it. So maybe it's time that we end that stigma.
