It doesn’t matter what you are going through whether you have lost a loved one or going through a meltdown about some of life’s changes. You are told to gather yourself and move on with your life.
You are told that there’s someone who is going through something even worse than you so you are not allowed to crumble under your storm.
Depression is not recognised in a black community, many are told never to give the people who hurt you the satisfaction to see that they have hurt you.
But, why are we expected to be strong when we know very well that we are not OK? That we need an ear to listen to our problems.
This has led to people walking around pretending to be OK while they are consumed by angry and dealing with their demons and soaking their pillows with tears at night.
On a daily basis, we read and hear in the media of someone who took their gun and killed their spouses and children.
There are mothers who feed their children poison and kill them because they feel there is no other way out.
We then call them weak and cowards because we believe they could have sought help and deal with their problems.
I say go ahead and be weak, cry if you have to and seek help. There is nothing wrong with that and you should not care what society says.
There are free counselling services and psychologist at some public health facilities who are trained to help us to deal with such events.
You can also seek help from your pastor if you trust them. Just don’t bottle everything up.
