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Through my eyes

Through my eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2018-06-22

It is amazing how self-involved we can become, how little time we spend observing the grander whole and our role in it, being the same as all others regarding the common good."The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival." - Aristotle

The recent suicide of my favourite celebrity rock star chef, Anthony Bourdain hit me hard, what can I say, I honestly never thought that he would do it, as I watched him circumvent the globe through his social media postings, I want to cry in despair.

Mental illness and depression is a cruel reality in a world where so many people are locked into black holes of terror and panic. Even though I rarely allow things to get to me, I often feel the helplessness and I see how it destroys so many lives and stunts all forms of emotion.

Recently I came across research showing that depression has a higher mortality rate than heart disease or any cancer. According to a recent study by researchers at Harvard and the World Health Organization, only respiratory infections, diarrhoea, and new-born infections cost more years of useful life than major depression.

Once upon a time, depression was generally seen as a purely psychological disturbance; these days, people are likely to think of it as a tidy biological syndrome. In fact, it's hard to make sense of the distinction.

When you are depressed, the past and the future are absorbed entirely by the present, as in the world of a toddler. You can neither remember feeling better nor imagine that you will feel better. Being upset, even profoundly upset, is a temporal experience, whereas depression is atemporal. Depression means that you have no point of view. You are the Black Hole.

Suicide is a seductress, and those who have sailed near it stay alive only when they stop up their ears and flee from its Siren song. Even with chemical assistance, it's a fight against the wind and the tide to stay off the rocks. I don't believe that Anthony Bourdain's life had become intolerable. I believe his life was not however, strong enough in him to defy annihilation.

People are constantly examining their own minds and rejecting their own moods. The use of antidepressants is going up as people seek to normalize what used to be deemed normal. Thirty million people worldwide have been on Prozac, and millions more on the other SSRIs.

The opposite of depression is not happiness but vitality, and my life, as I write this, is vital, even when I'm sad.Stay happy, rejoice at the small blessings and don't be afraid to ask for help ever.