Loving Your Partner and Their Depression (The Better Days)

 

Image From: https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/49561-global-breakfast-cereal-dynamics-shifting

    I feel like every book and fairytale ends in the princess finally finding true love, getting married, and living happily ever after. Not me, however. I still feel the heavy jacket that weighs my body down while I control the body of water that is enclosed by the dams of my eyelids. My lips still crack and dry out whenever my shaking breath resists to say what it wants to say. I worry about every little motion I make. I still sleep at unnecessary times with unnecessary motives. I crave my depression’s warm hug, but I also crave the loneliness of cold. Things have not gotten excessively amazing, but they have gotten better. I can pour a bowl of cereal without crying at the amount of food I will soon consume. I no longer flinch at the sight of happiness. So yes, I am okay. I may sleep a lot and cry over little things, but I am learning to be better. These changes take time you know? I can’t wake up one morning and decide my depression is gone. I have to eat the whole bowl before I can wash my dishes. So please, be patient with whomever you have decided to love that has an affair with depression. Eat the cereal with them, and dry off the dishes while they scrub the bowl 20 times just to ensure it is clean. However, don’t forget that dirty dishes come back, and when they do, don’t let them overflow and sit upon the counter top. Learn to love your person and their depression. Learn to love your person even when their depression is gone. Wrap your arms around them while they sleep and listen to their heart beat. That’s their song that keeps them going everyday. Make it your favorite melody, and put it on your top 20 playlist to listen to over and over. I am saying all of this because this is what has helped me finish my bowl. The person whom I love has helped me clean my dishes and wake up from my slumber. He has taken me piece by piece and accepted every part of me. If I don't finish my cereal, he keeps it in the fridge, so I can go back to it when I am ready. He is patient with me, and because of that, I can enjoy the better days. The days that when they end, I can go to sleep peacefully and happily. I can feel as though I am finally loving the world I have been put in. He has helped me learn to love this world. I think you should do the same whoever you may be. I know you are reading this for a reason, so while you go and learn to love your person and their depression, I am going to walk over to my sink and wash my dishes. I promise you, friend, it gets better. You just have to be patient.  Learn that some days they will pour the bowl of cereal and never plan to eat, but also know that one day you will come home and that bowl will be empty and ready for a clean slate.