RIP Robin Williams and I Understand.

Yesterday Robin Williams committed suicide.

The thing about suicidal thoughts/depression is that unless you’ve gone thru them yourself, you have not a clue as to quite how difficult they are to handle.

I found this superb article:

RIP Robin
www.crowdensatz.com/crows-prose/rip-robin

This part especially:

“What’s an analogy? How about this? People like to view depression as if it’s frosting on a cupcake. You can remove the frosting and not affect the cupcake. The cupcake is always itself, simply adorned or unadorned.

But depression is more like paint. You have your normal cheerful yellow self and some blue depression is added. You’re no longer yellow. You’re green. And you’re not going to be able to find your old yellow self anymore; it simply isn’t there. Removing the blue isn’t in any way easily done and may be impossible to do. All one can try to do is learn to live with green and see the positive in a world in which green is your new color. “

Perfect description.

I will say one thing however – using the above analogy, perhaps after going thru that blue addition…. your green becomes the color you were always meant to achieve.

But you first had to battle thru depression to see the light.

When you’re depressed, you give yourself all sorts of rationalizations and justifications:

My family would be better off without me!

The world is full of hatred anyways, perhaps I’ll be hit by gunfire when I least expect it.

Or maybe I’m destined to get an incurable virus.

So why not off myself today!

Like I said, it’s hell.

So for those who say, OMG what a coward…

Please.

Walk in those shoes for 20 years and then come back and tell me your take.

Because right now, you don’t have a fucking clue.

And to all…..

Take a moment today to reach out to those you love and/or care about etc.  Because chances are, if a person is depressed they will NOT share that information with you.

But knowing someone cares…. can make all the difference in the world.

Grow strong,

Barbara Ling