When I'm tired

Depression brings people down and when you’re down, you’re tired.

One of the most common (yet misunderstood) symptoms of depression is fatigue. In my depressive episodes I was often extremely tired and people around me did not seem to understand that.

Although most non-depressives say the right things about depression (IE. “We know it is real”, “you are suffering”), the acknowledgement, and proper understanding of symptoms is extremely rare.

When I was (it still does occur) tired, I knew it was not “normal” to be that tired, but also that this fatigue was not just a simple case of short night’s sleep, change in schedule, or any other common reason. Depression was (coming) back, and getting (extra) rest would make me stronger to face it (depression) the next day.

I have tried “toughing it out” and ended up unable to leave the house for three days.

Unfortunately our society’s over-preoccupation with getting things done “yesterday”, the person who takes a day off from work, school, or any other activities is seen as weak or low-functioning. Of course when said person does make the effort to get up and go to work / school, the effort is not recognized, but if they indeed over-exert themselves and end up with another serious sickness, they are practically made out to be guilty of “not taking care of themselves”.

I have read articles about how taking time off work can be beneficial for both a person’s mental and physical health. Unfortunately, most employers (that I have known) treat absenteeism like it was the plague. Openly criticising an employee’s absenteeism rate by comparing them to others, and holding it against them in performance reviews even when they (the employer) have been made aware of the employee’s condition.

Luckily (or not), this is not (usually) the case for employees with organic illnesses, but when it comes to depression and other mental illnesses, the prejudice is still very prevalent.