Hello friends and family, today I want to reach deep into your hearts chamber about something that has been circling around in my consciousness as a late. I believe the real pandemic that we are collectively facing is loneliness and here I'll explain why...

This topic has been shied away from and I believe more awareness, a huge dose more, needs to be brought to light on the societal pandemic of loneliness and depression which leads to suicide in some instances. I have received countless emails, messages and have observed that many are not coping well at this time. One thing I do believe is that making money from happy souls is not really as possible as sad and depressed souls who will do anything to soothe their pains with pleasures, distractions and money-making opportunities for the elites.

"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 3.8% of the population affected, including 5.0% among adults and 5.7% among adults older than 60 years (1). Approximately 280 million people in the world have depression (1). Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when recurrent and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Over 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds.

Although there are known, effective treatments for mental disorders, more than 75% of people in low- and middle-income countries receive no treatment (2). Barriers to effective care include a lack of resources, lack of trained health-care providers and social stigma associated with mental disorders. In countries of all income levels, people who experience depression are often not correctly diagnosed, and others who do not have the disorder are too often misdiagnosed and prescribed antidepressants." ~ https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression {realistically we could postulate that many cases of depression go underrep

How often do you get asked you you TRULY are?

"The so-called 'psychotically depressed' person who tries to kill herself doesn't do so out of quote 'hopelessness' or any abstract conviction that life's assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire's flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It's not desiring the fall; it's terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling 'Don't!' and 'Hang on!', can understand the jump. Not really. You'd have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling." ~ David Foster Wallace

You see, there are many degrees to depression, it can often go unnoticed and hidden behind the masks that we all wear as accessories. High functioning depression is hidden in plain sight.. The family member who is always laugh, the withdrawn child, the friend who is always helping others.. The signs are not always there, and yet, anyone could be suffering from depression. I would say I am a high functioning depressive and this is why I do not want anyone to have to feel the way I have done throughout my life.

"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds." ~ Laurell K. Hamilton

"That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end." ~ Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation

"Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?" ~ John Keats, Letters of John Keats

"That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful." ~ Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation

In a dualistic world of problems and solutions, I believe that there is a s

"When you're lost in those woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises anymore." ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

To be continued...

Love is the answer.

Remember that you're not alone. Reach out if you want and need to, even to say that you smiled today or if you have any ideas on how we can all come together to overcome this. ~ ambervictoriadiosraw@outlook.com 

If depression were a person I would hug all the depression out of you, I would squeeze it until there was nothing left but a bundle of love.

~DiosRaw, Amber Victoria Chittock, 04/04/22