Am I Really A Depression Hero?

Today I am being featured as a "Depression Hero" on this blog. It's very flattering to be considered a hero by someone, but do I really deserve the title?

One of the things that I have learnt since beginning this blog is that there are some really nice people out there in the blogosphere. There are people who have encouraged me to keep writing when I was finding it difficult, people who are worried when I don't write a post and will send me an email to make sure that I am okay, people who are kind enough to comment, people who love to hear about my knitting exploits, and people who just read the blog because they like what I have to say or the way that I say it.

Perhaps the best thing to have happened to me since I started this blog is that I have made a number of virtual friends as well as a few who are no longer virtual but who I meet on an occasional basis. The fact that I am old enough to be mother to each of these new friends doesn't matter. I offer a virtual ear to listen to their problems and they offer support to me when I am at my lowest. It is a mutual help function that is somehow missing in much of life today.

One of the things that I have learnt from blogging is that there is much that we can do to help someone who we don't know and who may be located in a town or city, or even a country, far away from our own. And much help can be received from them. Mental health bloggers are wonderful at supporting other mental health bloggers when things are not going well. It is because we have some understanding of what the other person is going through, that we can empathise and offer support that is based on experience. We won't ever tell a fellow sufferer 'to pull yourself together' nor will we ever allow a fellow sufferer to feel alone when a few words from us can make the difference that shows that there is someone out there who cares.

If that is what makes a Depression Hero then perhaps I am one. All I have ever wanted to do with my blog is to give others an idea of how I cope with long-term severe depression and perhaps hope to do something to help to reduce the discrimination and stigma that is associated with mental illness. I am really very proud, and a little embarrassed, at being Wendy Love's first Depression Hero, and I look forward to reading about more of her heroes as the weeks pass by.