Apparently it's TimeToTalkDay today - raising awareness of mental health illnesses.

I've always been quite open (hopefully) about my own struggles with depression and anxiety. It has in some small way helped me to share my experiences and release some pressure from the internalising system from time to time.

Since 2013 I have been taking medication to help manage the symptoms of these feelings (100mg sertraline daily). Winter is always hard. But the bad days always pass and no matter how deep the dip you are in it is just that, a dip. There will be lighter days.

If you suffer from mental health problems know that the way you feel and think is not reality - it is a lens, a filter through which the world is seen and experienced. It is - in its own cruel way - an attempt by your brain to compartmentalise and make sense of a world that is moving at 100 miles per hour and filled with trauma.

The trauma sadly is too often real. The world is a fucked up place and it is filled with fucked up people. But the lens can deceive. It can amplify, distort and filter. You do not have to correct the lens - it is after all a part of you. But knowing it is there can in some small way help.

And also know that if you hurt inside it is usually because you care. And that is not a stick to beat you with but a baton to grasp tightly.

My messages are always open if you need to talk or just offload. I may not understand but I will always listen.