If you manage someone who is suffering from depression and they’re turning up day after day, you should be incredibly impressed.
Apart from feeling like a sack full of sadness, that person is going through the equivalent of scaling Everest every day just to get out of bed, showered and to their desk.
As for remembering where the power switch to their computer is, well that’s a bit like winning Master Mind.
Depression is a slow-motion illness both for the mind and the body. Snails beep and yell abuse at you as you shuffle along footpaths. Your brain’s transmitter-thingies put their feet up for the day as you stare at your keyboard slack-jawed. And you burn the last of your energy pretending everything is okay.
And that’s not even taking into account the cancerous sadness that makes you question whether you can go on like this? Or your mind laughing at you because you’re beginning to believe those negative thoughts it’s been feeding you – you really are a useless piece of shit.
So please, take two bits of advice from someone who has been there and done that:
If you are suffering, it will clear. I promise you from 35 years of suicidal depressions, the fog eventually rolls away to reveal bright sunshine. Always.
And if you’re managing someone with depression?
Be kind. There’s a 50/50 chance one day it will be you.
If you’d like to know more about depression, Beyond Blue is a great place to start:
Club 20 