On one writer and depression, aka life in the black pit of hell

I’ve had so many hundreds of people talk to me about their depression and what they’re suffering, and how they’re afraid to go public with it, that I thought it was time to republish my “coming out” blog when I told the world that I suffer from depression.  It was scary as hell to do, and humiliating — I had to admit that I’m not Superwoman — but I’m so much better off for having done it. The support and encouragement from everyone in the writing and reading communities has been amazing.  I think, perhaps, that coming forward may have saved my life.  Here it is:

Reprinted from January of 2014:

So here I am, telling the truth for the first time, ever, publicly.

I have been ashamed to tell people about this for so long that I am –literally (and those of you who have heard me rant about the correct use of ‘literally’ know I really mean it) – crying at the keyboard.

Because it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done to get over years and years of humiliation and despair to admit that I needed help.

So here it is:  I’m Alesia Holliday (and Alyssa Day) and I have battled depression all my life.

Wow.  That was really fucking hard.  I can see why maybe AA makes you stand up and admit to being an alcoholic over and over.  Perhaps repetition lessens the terror?  Perhaps desensitization lessens the pain?  I don’t know.  I hope so.  I’m finally speaking up and speaking out because I can’t be silent any longer. I think my life might hang in the balance.

I had a birthday in November and it hit me hard.  So hard.  Because all I could think was: “How am I going to slog through so many more years of a life like this?”

I call depression the black pit, because it’s so damn dark down there.  It’s the horrible, hideous 4 a.m. of the soul, where all the worst bits of self-torment and self-sabotage and self-hatred throw a big fucking party and jump on my head.

“You’re not good enough.”  “Your next book can never be as good as the last one.”  “You’re a terrible person, writer, wife, mother, daughter, sister, human being.”

I don’t think anybody really understands depression.  The doctors think our brain chemistry is messed up, and we can fix it with medication.  The therapists think it’s a behavioral issue and we can fix it with therapy.  Probably both are true, to varying degrees.  Maybe.  All I know is that it’s something that can kill people by destroying all hope, and that it’s probably going to be almost as hard, or even harder, to fight my way out of the black pit as it was to just lie in the bottom of that damn pit in the dark–hoping to disappear.  But I know I have to try.

I have the best friends and family in the world, but when you’re in the black pit, they don’t know how to help.  Because they can tell you it will get better, but you don’t believe them.  Or they can cheer you on to climb out, but it feels like the sides are coated with slippery oil and no matter how hard you try to climb out, you’re just going to slide back down.  Maybe they’ll even throw you a rope, but the thought of trying to climb a rope is impossible when you haven’t had the strength to take a shower for three days.

I actually had this conversation with myself once:

“You have to wash your hair.”

“I I don’t have the strength to do it.”

“You have to do it.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to.”

“Why does it matter if I have clean hair? I’m such a loser.”

“But what if you die here on the couch with dirty hair and everybody knows you were too much of a loser to wash your hair?”

So I washed my hair.  Because some tiny part of me wanted to keep everyone from knowing I was hurting so much and so far gone.  Because, thanks to society’s stigmatizing mental issues like depression, I was too humiliated to even admit that I was hurting.

Until I hit that birthday and realized I didn’t have the energy to keep fighting, over and over and over.

Until I realized my subconscious had been screaming at me for a while, because the last three stories I’d written all had main characters die.

Until I admitted how much I needed help.

So I told my family and my doctor.  I told my agent and my editors.  I told my friends.  I cried so many tears that I think my tear ducts are broken.  And a tiny, tiny, tiny miracle happened:  So many people told me that they’re on my side.  And that they love me and they support me, even though, deep down, I still felt like I didn’t deserve support.  Or love.  Because depression is an evil monster who gets his claws around our mind and heart and gut and never, ever wants to let go.

Well, fuck that.  I am getting help and, for the first time in a long time, I see a glimmer of light and hope.  For the first time in an even longer time, I don’t feel like a complete fraud who is pretending to be happy.

I’ve started meds, and I’ve started therapy, and both are helping.  I’m trying to find my balance, and just feeling a glimmer of hope instead of being crushed under the weight of hopelessness is a miracle.  And today, another  miracle occurred.  I wanted to write.  I DID write.  And the words I wrote in my story didn’t lie there, flat and lifeless on the page, forcing me to delete them and start over like they do when I’m in the black pit.  Instead, they danced and sang like stories are supposed to do.  Quietly, still, and a little shaky on their feet, but there was definitely singing and dancing.

I’m  Alesia, and I have battled depression all my life.

Hey.  It was easier, just by an infinitesimal bit, that second time.  Let’s try it again:

I’m  Alesia, and I have battled depression all my life.  But now I’m getting help, and I’m climbing out of that damn black pit.  2014 is going to be better, and I’m never going to hide in a corner, ashamed and hurting, again.  I know it’s going to be a climb, and there is no instant, magical cure.  But this is a start, and – just like that blank first page of any new book – a fresh start feels like it holds hope, and light, and promise.

Please, please, let’s smash through this stigma about depression, so nobody has to be ashamed to ask for help, ever again.  Please, please, anybody else out there who’s hurting—please reach out for help, right now.  Don’t suffer in silence or shame for even one more day.  Let’s make depression our bitch, instead of the other way around.

With hugs, and love, and—finally—a little bit of hope,

Alesia

Here are some resources:

The National Institute of Mental Health – http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml

PBS has compiled a list of resources here:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/resources.html

And if you feel the least bit suicidal, please reach out immediately.  You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) if you are in crisis, and be connected to a trained counselor in your area, 24/7 or find further resources at their website: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.

10 Comments

  1. Kim Terry Schwarz on September 19, 2017 at 11:30 am

    Highly insightful blog! Cheering you onward, Alyssa!

    • Alyssa Day on October 25, 2017 at 1:57 pm

      thank you!

  2. Dee Stinson Clement on September 19, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    Thank you ……… for being YOU!! 🙂

    • Alyssa Day on October 25, 2017 at 1:56 pm

      right back at you!

  3. Merle Slack on September 19, 2017 at 4:17 pm

    Wishing and praying for you publishing this. I’ve suffered, for no apparent reason because I have a incredibly wonderful life, but, I still try to hide behind the smile….its so difficult thanks again for sharing. I wish you all of the joy I wish for myself. I have a wonderful perfect ,(almost) husband who gets me. But I do not advertise. Most people have no clue how depressed I can get. I hide it…. Please share prayers for everyone suffering this debilitating disease
    PS….thank you, John, for your love, understanding and patience. Couldn’t do it without you…..my rock. XOXO.

    • Bonnie Fahy on September 19, 2017 at 11:48 pm

      I’ve had that same conversation with myself about washing my hair! Thanks for sharing this, you definitely are my hero for being so brave to speak up about this stuff.

      • Alyssa Day on October 25, 2017 at 1:54 pm

        thank you. xo

    • Alyssa Day on October 25, 2017 at 1:56 pm

      Remember that depression can strike no matter how wonderful our lives are on the surface. All my hugs to you. xo

  4. Kira Flowerchild on September 19, 2017 at 4:27 pm

    Thank you for describing the things I feel but have trouble saying. I haven’t written (creative writing, I mean) in so long, three or four years at least. The depression leaches all the creativity right out of my brain. I see from your blog titles in the right rail that you learned to swim. Another similarity – I didn’t learn to swim as a child because my mother was afraid of the water. It is something I have always meant to do as an adult but never have. Congratulations to you for achieving that goal.

    • Alyssa Day on October 25, 2017 at 1:54 pm

      thank you. and hugs to you!! xo

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