With everything that’s been going on in the world of late, it becomes easy to forget about oneself, and the daily struggles we each go through. When black people are being lynched and COVID-19 is claiming lives across the country, a little personal struggle seems insignificant in comparison. Add to this the fact that we still all need to eat, sleep, get groceries, and essentially live our lives as best we can each day, and suddenly it’s been a long time since I’ve addressed my own mental health.

The truth is, I’ve been pretty depressed for a while now. Not because of everything that’s going on, but in addition. It’s just another layer to the considerations I have to make to get myself through each and every day; or perhaps better said as a veil of fog through which I see the rest of the world’s goings-on.

It steals away any motivation to do anything – even to be there for others who might need an ear or a shoulder. I feel a great deal of guilt about this, which only serves to enhance my depression further, but I’m almost completely unable to provide any kind of support to the people closest to me, who need it now more than ever. Never mind that I’m completely unproductive, and haven’t written anything in weeks.

I’m also back at work full time now, which is difficult, tiring, and mentally draining, and by the time I get home at eight o’clock every night all I want to do is go to bed.

I should have seen this coming – in fact, I kind of did – because a few months ago I was riding high on a manic phase, writing almost every day, making music, cooking dinner for the family … all sorts of things that normally take an enormous amount of energy, and doing it all with the most positive of outlooks. And every time I get like that, I end up … well, like this.

And as much as I knew I would eventually crash, I know I’ll eventually rise out of this depression, too. It doesn’t make it any more bearable at the moment, but like everything else in life, at least I know it won’t last.

For now, I’ll try to keep writing here, but until this passes, I’m not going to make any promises.