Skip to main content

#SCDepressionChat: Support from family and friends is important in fighting depression



I won't say I'm clinically depressed. I just had one terrible year that led me into another terrible year of depression and hiding behind a mask. The Ghanaian Society doesn't help men grieve properly. Men shouldn't cry. Men need to be strong. I've heard this and lived by it all my young life.

I have an obsession with planning. I set goals for the year, month, and week and usually live by them. When things don't go according to plan, I get agitated.

2014 I had planned to start my MSc (I found someone willing to sponsor), I was expecting my long overdue promotion, and the girl I had been dating since high school had agreed to marry me. Life looked good. 

I gained admission to read my MSc, but my sponsor passed away. My boss chose to delay my promotion by another year. One of my best friends died because his parents chose spiritual remedies over medical treatment, and my fiancée informed me she was pregnant for someone else six months to the wedding. From that point on, my perfectly planned life started to unravel.

By the end of 2014 I was dealing with more negative emotions than I was used to. I didn't know how to deal with them. I wasn't eating properly, I wasn't sleeping well, I had become withdrawn and I had serious trust issues. 

People don't ask questions if you smile so I learned to fake smile through it all. When someone asked why I was losing weight, I'd say I was on a diet. When they asked about the date of the wedding, I'd say soon. 

The only person I talked to was my best friend. In June of 2015, I made a new friend who had dealt with depression before. These two were my support structure and between the two of them, I didn't sink further into depression. 

I still have trust issues. I haven't fully dealt with all these issues, but it gets easier every day. I was lucky to have two great friends to get me through the dark days.


About the Author:

The Author of this post wishes to remain anonymous, and Sista respects their decision. 




Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Say something about this post

Popular posts from this blog

Women, Marriage, Child Birth and The Blackmailing Older Generation in Ghana

S ome years back, in my late teens, I always told myself I’d get married before I was 23. The thought of being able to enjoy life with my companion in holy matrimony without being pressed (physically, psychologically, or biologically) for children was ideal. I wanted to travel the world. Know people. See places. For my partner and I to get our act together before creating and bringing life into this world.   Maybe the motivation came from knowing my parents discovered each other and started life together quite early. My mother had me when she was barely 21. Three kids down the line, my dad is now in his late 40s, with my mom, a little behind. Definitely, the ‘young old couple’ thingy is attractive. But. I’m currently in my mid-20s. And unmarried. So many things replaced the desire for me to tie the knot before 23. I realized, somehow, that there was no rush. My priorities had shifted. There was education, a lot of growing up to do, and basically life! And there was also ...
12 comments
Read more

"Stop the Car or I'll Jump": A woman's ordeal on the Accra-Tema Motorway

In my early 20’s, a friend shared a story with me about this old Lebanese man who gave her a lift on the Accra-Tema motorway roundabout on a rainy day. She was working in Accra and needed the lift to make i t on time so she accepted. “ When we got to Trasacco junction, he started running his fingers on my thigh. I pushed his hand away, but he just laughed and said, you see the rain ? He took my hand again and put it on his thigh, just about an inch from his crotch. I tried pulling my hand away, but he said again, you see this rain? Then he said if I didn’t keep my hand there, he would drop me in the rain” She narrated. So she kept her hand on his crotch, rubbing it till she got to the end of the motorway where a car from her office was waiting to pick her up. About 2 weeks after she shared her nasty experience with me, I was also on my way home from the café at around 10:00pm when a man offered me a lift. He obviously wasn’t Ghanaian, from his appearance, and looking a...
11 comments
Read more

Female Sexual Coercion: How Women really feel

I am 40 years old, I promise you! Well yes I have only literally lived for a quarter of a century but I swear, I am 40. Or more. I say this because some of the time, or a lot of the time I feel like I have seen too much for my age. More recently I have learned that our experiences lead us somewhere good when we let them. I have seen mine do just that and it makes me thankful, not to say to have experienced them was a good thing, but that it turned out alright after all. I wouldn’t wish that any woman goes through even a hair’s breadth of it. I seem not be clear about exactly what this is about right? I know, I actually have so much in my head right now I probably have to slow down and take them one after the other, and so I’d do just that. This is only part one.    I am writing this about women, but I’d wish for everyone, irrespective of gender, to read because it is so important, I believe. It is the matter of coercion. From what it entails (its definition) to how ...
16 comments
Read more