The path to mental health

Louise, I also experience similar things. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and my brain is thinking so hard that I'm having trouble breathing and my heart is racing. In September 2020, I lost my friend Josie. She also loved to write in her diary. When she left us, my symptoms got worse. After 10 months and several other hardships, I decided to ask for help. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which changed everything for me. I was finally able to understand what I was going through. Without knowing it, it had been there for much longer than I thought. The symptoms were so intense and present in my daily life that I thought it was the norm. It is still challenging to learn to live with it today, but I feel better equipped. I know myself better, and above all, I can notice when I am not feeling well. For example, when the dishes start to pile up... It helps me a lot. If I could have read the words of someone going through the same thing as me, it would have made a big difference. So thank you for sharing what you are going through! It reminds me of my friend Josie, which makes me feel good.

Louise, that's me! Except we don't have the same name! Well, it's not exactly me, but I can relate to it a lot. Like her, when I first encountered anxiety, I didn't yet know who I was dealing with. And like her, I've been trying to put words to it ever since. And it does me a lot of good. Thank you Louise!

I am a student, and depression has turned my life into a prison. The smallest tasks have become a series of constant trials. Add to this the academic performance anxiety that makes me sick for grades and the guilt that I'm not as effective as I used to be. All accompanied by a need to isolate myself that is as safe as it is unhealthy, and you have the full menu of my malaise. Yet I wasn't always like this. But my body and my brain finally let me know (they didn't give me much choice) that I had gone way beyond my limits this time...

It took me a long time to talk about it openly. I spent many hours in silence. I did everything I could to block out those emotions I didn't want to face. Then one day, I hit a wall, as they often say. My lack of balance between my well-being, my lack of assertiveness and my unreasonable working hours got the better of me. An available worker, a perfectionist, and always ready to meet the needs of others before my own. It took me a long time to accept my diagnosis of major depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Long months that have greatly affected my self-esteem. By not taking care of myself, I realized that we forget ourselves. We lose ourselves. You don't know who you are anymore. You feel very small. I isolated myself. Hiding behind my shame. A loneliness that weighs heavily and makes you feel as if you no longer exist in the eyes of others.