How Hard It Really Is Quotes

“The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say 'My tooth is aching' than to say 'My heart is broken.'"[21]”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“don't know how to do this. To be friends with the depressed person is a bit of a dance with mashed toes. No one quite knows what they're doing, and we need more rest than the others, but we are trying.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“The Church isn't talking about mental illness. We have amazing secular organizations fighting stigma—and I absolutely love it. But what are we as Christians doing to help those who are hurting? A sermon on God's love won't do the trick. As much as I adore God and love Scripture, a Bible quote isn't going to do the trick. We need hearts poured out for each other. We need true and authentic encounters.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“You are loved. You might have heard that a million times, but it's no less true. You do have a Creator. He is with you. He is bigger than your situation and closer than your deepest hurt. He's not mad. He is cheering for you and rooting for you this very second. He's okay about all the things before. He sent His Son for that very reason. You can put down the blade. You can throw away the pills. You can quit replaying those regrets in your head. You can quit the inner-loop of self-condemnation. You can forget your ex. You can walk away from the porn. You can resolve your conflicts right now. You can sign up to volunteer at that shelter. You can thank your parents for everything. You can hug the person next to you. You can tell the waiter, "Jesus loves you." You can go back to church. You don't have to sit in the back. You don't have to prove your worth to the people you've let down. You don't have to live up to everyone else's vision for your life. You're finally, finally free. You are loved. I am loved. As much as I love you, dear friend, He loves you infinitely more. Believe it. Walk in it. Walk with Him. God is in the business of breathing life into hurting places. This is what He does, even for the least likely like you and me.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“If depression robs you of your ability to make sense of life, then any advice or solution is not going to reach into the heart of depression.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“1) When it's expressed, it's often hand-waved as nothing more than "sadness" or "introversion" or "laziness." 2) Unless someone has experienced depression, then reaching out is usually ineffectual. It's like describing the Mojave to a polar bear.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“In depression you become, in your head, two-dimensional—like a drawing rather than a living, breathing creature. You cannot conjure your actual personality, which you can remember only vaguely ... You live in, or close to, a state of perpetual fear, although you are not sure what it is you are afraid of.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“I wish I could say it gets easier each time, but I never know how long it's going to be. I never know when the colors will come back. I never know if this will be the one that wins.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“Another respondent said, "I used to believe self-care and coddling were synonymous, that the best way of curing depression was to stay as far inside my comfort zone as possible. Stay in, watch my favorite movies over and over, binge on desserts, don't put any effort into anything that might 'exhaust' me. Then I realized I had already committed suicide, by refusing to live. Now, I get out of depression by doing new things with new people, taking risks, putting in effort on big and small things. Long story short, huddling inside a blanket eating ice cream may be comforting enough for one day, but it's not the way your whole life should be led.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“You cannot choose whether you get depressed and you cannot choose when or how you get better, but you can choose what to do with the depression, especially when you come out of it."[54] — Andrew Solomon”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“We've been the idea that depression is only a choice, that somehow we've chosen our way in and can choose our way out. We're inclined to deflect the burden rather than to share it.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“You're not alone, you have me.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“I dislike having to justify my depression because I don't always display symptoms of depression. If I have a good day or if I'm able to laugh or seem happy, I find people often think that my depression isn't a real illness, or that I can simply have a positive attitude and it will go away. I have good days and bad days, but it is still always there, just like any other chronic illness.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets."[16] — C.S. Lewis If you're either at the edge of depression or thinking of harming yourself right now, please don't hesitate to call a friend. If they don't answer, leave a long message. You might be surprised that it helps. Also,”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“Unless someone has experienced depression, then reaching out is usually ineffectual. It's like describing the Mojave to a polar bear.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“It feels like forever while it's there and as though it never happened when it's over.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“Depression thrives on its unrelenting invisibility, creating a fatal cycle in which its own camouflage is the very mechanism by which it destroys. It thrives by hiding.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“Depression itself is encased in misconceptions. The pain of going through mental illness is already hard enough; to add myths only makes it that much more unbearable.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“It is remarkably invasive, a highly honed, weaponized virus of the mind.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression

“Depression is a rumor, until it is reality, and then it's as if nothing else was ever real.”
― J.S. Park, How Hard It Really Is: A Short, Honest Book About Depression