May is National Mental Health Month!

 May is National Mental Health Month.  I think it's so important to remove the stigma from mental health issues.  It's important to speak out regarding mental health because that's the only way TO remove the stigma surrounding it; it's the only way to make it not taboo.

I've struggled with clinical depression for the last 14 years, but I imagine that if I had spoken with a doctor sooner, my depression would have been diagnosed sooner; it's something I've struggled with for a long time.  My depression was originally diagnosed because I developed and received treatment for an eating disorder when I was 20 years old and I probably never would have gone to the doctor for just the depression BECAUSE of the stigma attached to it.

NO ONE should suffer alone.  Depression is not a choice, it is a chemical imbalance over which you have no control.  If diagnosed with a physical illness such as diabetes or cancer, you wouldn't tell someone to just get over it, or smile because that'll make them all better.  The same goes for mental illness; people don't just "get over it," they need medical treatment.  Don't make it harder for them.

The good news is there IS treatment available for mental illnesses! There IS a light at the end of a very dark, very long tunnel.

I am still on medication to treat my depression and I probably will be for the rest of my life.  Some people would say that's not necessary, but I know that I have a form of treatment-resistant depression that requires medication. Some people don't need prescription drugs to treat their depression but I do.  I'm okay with that, so there's no reason you shouldn't be okay with it.  After 14 years, I'm learning to live with depression.  I'm a mom who is treated for depression and that's a whole other bag of worms!

If you're struggling with depression, tell someone: your spouse, a trusted friend, a medical professional.  If you can't find the words to speak up, show them this post and tell them to read it.  And if you're that trusted friend or family member reading this about your loved one, do just that - love them.  Help them find MEDICAL help for their depression and love them through this period of their life.  Your love and understanding is the best thing you can give them.

There are many other types of mental illness; depression is just the one with which I have experience.  Your love is still the best thing you can give someone struggling.  Love them and help them get the professional help they so desperately need and might be having trouble finding.

And to those of you suffering in silence ~ this WILL get better, I promise.  Stay strong, my friends.

Love,

Sam 

RunDisney - Fail!

I came here to write a happy post.  I was about to say, I am SO excited that RunDisney has just announced they will be adding a 10k race to the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January.

Like any good blogger, I went to the RunDisney website to get more information, maybe even a pretty picture of someone in much better shape than me running in a cute costume, to post with my entry.

And then I saw it.

Walt Disney World 10K - SOLD OUT

WHAT?!?!

Don't the folks at Run Disney KNOW that I can't run more than a 10K?  Don't they know that no matter how many times I've tried, I just can't finish Half Marathon training?

Seriously, y'all the race was just announced within the last month (and it really feels like it was just last week).  How can it already be sold out?

I'm so depressed.

I'm Famous*

*And by famous, I mean a famous person is following me on Twitter and that makes me famous by default.  Suck it, Tommy. 

Did you get the memo that I'm figuring out how to work Twitter? I posted it earlier this week, but not on the blog, so you might not have gotten it.  Anyway, I'm learning how to effectively follow people, tag them, use the # sign appropriately.  I've even started my own Twitter campaign to get the Disney Social Media Moms Conference to invite me to attend the 2014 Conference. That's right - all of that has happened in the last week.

So, after learning that I have figured out how to use Twitter and knowing how gosh darn funny I am, it should come as no surprise that I have a famous follower: The Bloggess.  She is HI. LARIOUS.  Perhaps you know of Beyonce the Giant Chicken? Yes, that's The Bloggess.  And now she's following me.  GOOD LAWD.

And now I can die happily.

Peace out, yo.

Super Mom

Someone out there needs this reminder today. 

Stay strong moms!