Sometimes we get so wrapped up in everything we forget what is important in life...love, friendship. Back when my mind was in a darker place I was juggling writing, and reviewing, and helping others with their writing, and being a soccer mom, practice four nights a week, games on Saturdays. I was making videos, keeping house, grocery shopping, screwing around on the computer, helping everyone with everything they asked me to, or saying I would at least. I was juggling, but I was a bad juggler. I dropped the balls. Every single one of them.
I stopped doing everything. Stopped reading, stopped cooking, stopped cleaning, stopped helping. The only thing I didn't stop was writing. It was therapeutic for me. All these crazy feelings were shooting out my fingers on to my keyboard. And there was much death. =)
If you were one of those people who asked for my help and I didn't come through, I apologize. I failed you.
This is something I wrote during what I'll call my dark era. lol. It's just a blurb, not part of anything bigger, and on my computer it's merely saved as "dead".
Today was the first time I really wanted to be dead. Not kill myself, I’m not that brave. And yes, I do think those that kill themselves are brave and not cowardly. Is suicide noble? By no stretch of the word, but brave in its own right. I don’t want to kill myself, I just don’t want to be alive. Right now I wouldn’t care if I got hit by a bus, or contracted some terrible disease that killed me within hours. I just don’t want to be here, in this world, this space where I don’t quite fit. Where I don’t feel wanted. Where I feel invisible. This place where I can’t stand people, but crave the connections I have with them. I want to be near them, but not on a personal level. I just want them surrounding me. Keeping me company with their presence, but not with their words, their quirks, their personalities.
I walked today in a surreal reality. My husband walked with me, telling me about a dream he had. My senses were heightened to everything but his voice. In truth I didn’t care. About his dream or anything he might have been telling me. I threw in a couple mmhmmms, and yeahs, and rights so I appeared to be listening. But I couldn’t. My entire body was in another place. My heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings. And my senses. The wind brushed my cheek with its cold, drafty hands. Blew through my hair like an airy comb. My ears acutely aware of dogs barking, phones ringing, neighbors laughing, and cars driving down a distant street. Breathing in the sky, the earth, the water, the heavens, I felt almost weightless, floating just outside actuality, not quite part of it, yet tethered to it in some way.
I keep walking, and as I do, I come back into myself. My senses allay. My heart slows to a dull thud. A beat so mundane and spiritless it reminds you of who you are. What you are. A no one. Just a speck. Nothing that really matters.
And once again, I want to be dead.
Thanks for reading.
Ciao,
Megan
that picture is very scary. >:(
ReplyDelete<3 <3 <3
I know, right? <3
ReplyDeleteIt's called clinical depression. I've been there. I remember hearing about a drive-by shooting, and how the person who was shot crawled across his yard and into his house to call 911. I fantasized that if someone shot me in a drive-by, I would not do what that person did. I would just close my eyes and be relieved that it was over. Like you say, I did not want to kill myself (mostly because people would think badly of me if I did -- abandoning my children, etc.) But if I were killed in some other way... well, then, it wouldn't be my fault, would it?
ReplyDeleteI didn't write during that time. I didn't do anything but operate on auto-pilot, working, cooking, putting one foot ahead of the other. Later, I began to realize that my condition was just a ramped-up version of something I had been dealing with all my life, more or less.
I'm glad you have been able to emerge from The Dark Place, Megan.
Thanks Scotti, and thanks for sharing. I'm in a much better place emotionally and mentally, but I still have my days. lol.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I used to watch a cop show set in England. The American cop always said "Life is hard. Then you die." We laughed a lot on that line. I didn't know that I would lose him so soon.
ReplyDeleteLife IS hard. Some days it's hard to get out of bed. But things do pass, so matter how intense. It's important to recognize that you are depressed. Great if you have friends who see it too and gently help you to get help. But no one can tell you to do it. You have to do it yourself. That's the scary part. But you can do it.
Oh, Megan, I've been there too. A long time ago now, but I remember it viscerally. It's good you're feeling better, even though it's just the beginning. My philosophy became that if I was so small, just a speck, I would fill that space up as much as I could.
ReplyDeletexoxo B
Oh, Megan. Thanks for your bravery in posting. I've been there, and I'm so glad you're coming out the other side.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're still here in the world.
*hugs Megan*
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you went through that. I have been through depression from the other side--I had my husband arrested and committed about 13 years ago--he couldn't contract for his safety (meaning he wouldn't sign something agreeing not to commit suicide)-- What finally pulled him out was the stats about children of people who commit suicide... and our daughter. it was a LONG, rough road (and included a lengthy separation, as 'with me' he wouldn't work at it 'for him')
Megan, you have incredible talent--PLEASE take precautions so this never buries you.
Thank you for your comments. I'm doing well. Mostly I suppose the post today was to explain why I might not have been a good friend, or anything for that matter at that time. That was almost two years ago, and while I still have my dark moments. I've vowed never to go back to THAT place again. I'm blessed to have so many people supporting me and watching my back.
ReplyDeletegreat post thanks
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back to this post as the words have such meaning and beauty for me. I know its speaks about depression and darkness but there is light.( no desire to tell my tale here on that front ) but many years ago , as a young student, I choose one of those things that many think about doing. Long story later, I am falling from 10,000 feet, parachute went bad with no chance of getting out alive. I think about the resignation of that day - death will come soon. At 200 miles an hour I watch the land come at me. I think 30 seconds more, maybe a minute. The images and feeling you write about are the same. Detactment, resignation. Its ok. But in that case many years ago I could do nothing. Going thru life without feeling much feels the same as falling to ones death. Falling thru life without wanting to feel. A gust of wind saved my life that day. I pray we all get that gust of wind in our lives to push us past the darkness , whenever it comes.
ReplyDeleteWow. Intense story. And yes, it does feel like that. The downward spiral is tangible and you find yourself falling and reeling with no way to stop, save for a gust of wind. :) Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete