Little did I know when I started a business eleven (!!!) years ago that I would be talking about mental health with people all the time. The ins and outs, the ups and downs, the hardest parts of being human — it’s all on the table, and that was BEFORE we came down with a pandemic. Lemme read you a poem and love on you in this episode of That’s What She Said, okay? (There are hundreds more episodes here. Or catch up on all things dealing with depression while running a business.)
To Past Me, Who Has Endured 20 Years of Depression
I love you.
Thank you for every tear you cried;
for every time you left the house
when you’d rather stay in;
for every time you shared the truth
instead of pretending to be okay.
Thank you for being brave enough
to ask for help, to tell on yourself,
to rest and pause when needed.
Thank you for simply enduring
when your brain was sure
you should no longer be alive.
Thank you for resisting the easy way out.
Thank you for being resilient enough to grow into;
grow despite;
grow past;
grow deeper.
Thank you for reaching into your darkest parts,
hands flailing around in sheer nothingness,
and finding gem after gem to examine,
cherish,
love.
Thank you for continuing to feel
in a world that wants you
to go
numb.
Just: thank you.
P.S. Dig poems? My book of poetry is pay-what-you-can priced.
