Soliloquy. By O.b.i

Michael came home listless again, he had been having a feeling of emptiness for days now. He could not really trace when it started, but he could remember some weeks ago in the middle of his day, he was overcome by an intense feeling of anxiety. It was a different kind of anxiety and It was strange too, not because it was the first time he was having that feeling, but because it was the first time he was feeling anxious and sad. When he was younger what he knew as anxiety had a different meaning and a different feeling, a happy one, it was that feeling when you can't wait to wear your new Christmas cloth or resume a new class with a new school uniform after a long holiday or you were getting a new toy. But this one was different. He probed his mind to find what prompted this feeling and he came up with nothing. In the days that followed he noticed that he was losing his energy, not energy to do stuffs, but energy to live. And then at a point there was paranoia, he felt everybody else was being unfair and selfish and judgmental. For days he dragged through life searching for anything thing to hold on to, any form of happiness, but when he went out he covered everything with a smile and hearty laughter and tones of heavily edited pictures on Instagram and Facebook. The idea that he was suffering from depression had once crossed his mind, but he dispelled it almost as quickly as it came, that can't be possible, he was African he thought to himself, things such as depression, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Attention Deficit and the likes were unAfrican, it was for those white kids who could not 'man up' as his father will always admonish him whenever he was sad or scared. That evening when he came home and laid on his bed, he felt an intense feeling of floating emptiness in his mind body and soul, he felt crushed, jaded and lifeless. He laid down on his bed and all that came to his mind was 'you know, you can end all this now'

Mental health is increasingly becoming an issue, some will argue that we know more about it now because of social media while some others will say social media has contributed to people becoming increasingly mentally unhealthy, but which ever it is, we all have a collective duty to look out for each other, always keep in touch with friends and family and make sure they are fine, visit the ones you can and call the ones you cant.
We also have a responsibility to correct the general notion about mental health. Being depressed is nothing to be ashamed of, it doesn't mean you are a failure, it doesn't you are a looser...and lastly IT HAPPENS TO EVERYONE!
WorldMentalHealhDay