WADING OUT OF DEPRESSION

Hey its depression season people!

Lets be depressed together about how the load shedding is infrequent in some areas while light doesn’t come at all in some

How at aftar parties people who didn’t fast eat the most

How Amer Liaqat shouts “Tukkay lagao mussalamano”, I hope one of these days “Musalamans” at his show will start “Nashanay lgao Musalamano” and shoot the damn pseudo-Molvi for good

And how MQM k uncles sing happy birthday for Altaf bhai’s little daughter over the phone

Jiyo aur jeenay do!

And let’s be depressed about the fact that we have our shelves stacked with Dan Brown and Paulo Coelho but hardly anyone has Sahih Bukhari or Sahih Muslim there

Breath in, breath out. Are you depressed enough to read on?  Do you WANT to get over this season as soon as monsoon ends in Okara?

Okay then, it healing time.

Depression changes a person slowly, creeping out of corner and taking a hold of them like the spiderman’s dark self that a person begins to believe that I am after all this person. I mean who doesn’t change when the situation changes for them??

A friend in need is a friend indeed is a proverb for you. Because even if that person doesn’t know who he is anymore, you, his friend, do. Play your part. Stick with them. Tell them what they had forgotten, and let them know that the real them is still inside.

Friends are really important at that stage because it’s a battle you cannot win alone. It’s a difficult war because sometime sadness provides you with a nice little dark corner from where your own world seems like a hell. People “get addicted to a certain kind of sadness”, to quote Gotye for whatever literary quality it has

.

Self confidence and self esteem are demolished for those who know depression as their only friend. All they need is a word from someone they would believe it that “Dude, you are awesome.”

okay, lets pretend he is wearing a shirt -_-

You should tell them how important they are, and how good they are. Because all they need is tiny little hope to live on. To cling to. Just a little reason for existing.

And you can save them from committing suicide by making them feel good about them. It is not easy because they wont believe you at first but if you are a friend you should go an extra mile for them, they deserve it.

Little things save lives, even of those who don’t dare harm themselves by cutting and committing suicide. Such people die thousand times every day in their mind and then they have to face the same life all over again.

Make them laugh.

In depression, hardest thing to do is to be happy. The world seems morbid, and even happy people depress you. So shake that funny bone of yours and make your friend laugh. Let them hear their own laughter ring in their ears and make them happy. Do things that make them happy. Eat the food they like. And treat them like a normal person, which is most important. They don’t want anyone to make them feel good; they need it, but they don’t want it. Make it feel friendly, a routine. Show them what they are missing.

Make them talk.

Ask them their problem, and make them feel like that you understand. NEVER say that you know how it feels, because you don’t and lies piss them off.

Get them help.

If the problem is getting out of hand and your cajoling hasn’t worked then it’s time to go the shrink. Your friend thinks he doesn’t need therapy, so you are the one who has to convince that they do. Trust me, live through the series of abuses they would throw at you for calling them mad; they

would thank you one day.

And one day when your friend has recovered and striding by your side, making fun of the pink t-shirt some 

guy is wearing, he would look your way, smile and say “Thank You.” It will be precious.

And for those who didn’t have a friend by their side in that dark period, when they recover the only thing that now burdens them is that for some I wasn’t worth the trouble, wasn’t worth saving. It is hard to live with a realization like that.

Go, save you friends.

I n the end, a shout out for my friend who was always there for me, Sana!

Kurt Cobain said and I quote, “Forever in debt to your priceless advice.”