One Person

My week has continued to be great.  

I am lucky enough to have at least 5 "besties".  I have one from my home town (who I went right through school with), one from the town I moved to when I left, and I have 3 best friends here where I live now.  You may be of the belief that you can only have 1 best friend, and that is OK.  I could not choose just one from the 5 I have as that wouldn't be fair to them, they are all equally important to me and I love them all to bits.  One of these friends has her own mental illness to deal with and loved the artwork I did for myself and so asked me to make her one.  She didn't tell me what she wanted, but she's a little bit obsessed with succulents and so I came up with this one.  She loves it 😍

I would also like to talk again about why I am writing this blog and drawing the art I am.  Apart from the fact that it has calmed my mind and is a great coping mechanism for me - my thought was that I wanted to use my experiences and my life stories and perspective to help even just one person know that they are not alone, or one person understand mental illness when they do not suffer it themselves.

It is something I've always wanted to be able to do - help others - but one thing that has held me back was what people who know me would think.  Would they think that I'm just doing it for attention? Would they think that I'm not the person they thought I was? Would they be embarrassed by it if they knew me well (or thought they did)?   I was originally going to keep this blog anonymous, but...

I decided to let them think what they want to because this is something that I needed to do for myself.

In my mind (and I could be totally wrong, I often am), there are really 2 sources of mental illness.  Situational - where you may get depressed for a period of time after something significant has happened in your life (such as a loved one passing away) and you find it hard to cope and ask yourself all the "what-ifs", and then you have the Chemical imbalance.  To me, this one is your worst enemy.  You can have your dream house, your dream car, your dream job and still have depression.  You could have everything you've always wanted in life, and still be depressed  (and sometimes everything is fine and then out of the blue it hits you like a freight train).  It is very true when they say money doesn't buy happiness.  It is very true when they say you need to find happiness within yourself to be truly happy.  Unfortunately for people with mental illness, this is an ongoing struggle.  

The perception of - "why are you upset/sad/depressed? You've got nothing to be upset/sad/depressed about?" shits me to tears.  That's right, I don't, I have a roof over my head, a car to drive, I am reasonably healthy, I have a gorgeous son and a loving partner, I absolutely have nothing to be depressed about. It doesn't change the fact that I am and it actually just makes it worse because you have guilt thrown in for feeling that way when you SHOULD be fine.

A lot of us know that we "should" be happy, that we "should" be coping with all that life throws at us, because by all accounts, it's really not that much.  But guess what? Our brains aren't wired like that.  Our brains don't have wire, they have bubbles! We can be grateful for everything we have while we are still crying on the inside for a reason we can't even explain! 

So to get back to my original point - I've done it! I've helped that one person! A lovely lady reached out to me on my facebook page last night and told me that the art I am doing and the blogs I am writing resonate with her, and could she please use my artwork on a card for a sewing workshop.  I was so happy I had tears in my eyes! Do you know how long it is since I've had happy tears? Well, actually, probably not that long, I cry very easily whether happy or sad (but that's for another blog).

I am just so full of warm fuzzy feelings that I have been able to reach someone I've never met.  The people I know and who understand me, support me unconditionally and so they will always give me encouragement, or gentle nudge another way.  So to reach someone outside my circle lets me know I'm doing something right, something good, something productive.

Thank you Debra, you have made a big impact on me <3 
Not long after I received the message, I saw a pic with this quote and it was just perfect <3

 'One tree can start a forest, One smile can begin a friendship, One hand can lift a soul, One word can frame the goal, One candle can wipe out darkness, One laugh can conquer gloom, One touch can show you care, One life can make the difference. Be that one Today.'

HUGS xx

Comments

  1. Outback Crafter - DebraJune 6, 2020 at 3:04 AM

    That was beautiful and thank you for letting me share your work.

    So many of us struggle, you seem to be able to put it into words.

    ReplyDelete

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