On World Health Day, let this comic strip explain what depression feels like

Do you lie wide awake for hours at night struggling to sleep? Do you feel sad for no reason? Do you struggle each morning in motivating yourself to go to work? Do you find yourself saying ‘I’m fine’ even when you’re not? Don’t worry, as you are not alone. Millions of people across the globe are suffering from depression. So, on this World Health Day, let’s talk about depression.

For those you who don’t know, life living with depression isn’t easy. It’s not like the sadness that persists after you have had a terrible fight with your best friend or when your pet suddenly dies. The world looks different when you look at it from the prism of depression. Outside the sun might be shining bright, but inside you can be all dark.

The thing about depression is that it doesn’t go away simply because you want it to. You can try all you want to motivate or even force yourself to get up and give yourself a fresh start, and it still won’t help.

Living with depression is not easy. It’s a constant struggle between a mind that wants to give up and a body that wants to fight for its life. And sometimes when nothing else seems to work, you end up reminding yourself about all the crappy things that are going in the world. You shame yourself for being sad over an unknown cause and not being able to get over it.

When that fails, you force yourself to go out in hopes that maybe a change in the surroundings or the bright sunny day might help in cheering you up. But in most cases, that doesn’t work as you never muster enough strength to stitch all your broken pieces together.

After a point, the self-loathing starts getting to you and from being desolate you start hating yourself, criticising yourself for basically everything. You lose faith in yourself. You stop believing.

From self loathing and hatred for your own self, you graduate to not caring about anything (at all). You feel nothing for no one. You not only become distant to yourself but also to the world.

This is usually followed by a feeling of fearlessness. You don’t feel anything. You don’t care about anything. Nothing seems to matter anymore. While this might seem good theoretically, but in reality it’s a lot more scarier. If you don’t fear anything, you have nothing to lose, which mean you lost everything you had or cared about. If you have nothing/no one to care about, no reason to fight for, you aren’t living, which is what happens in case of depression.

If you are one of them– one of us– or if you know someone who needs help, speak up. Talk about it. You are God’s wonderful creation and your life is a beautiful gift. So, don’t waste it just like that.