Five Minute Friday: Blue

Note: This post is my weekly contribution to the Five Minute Friday community that is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home. Click here for more information about Five Minute Friday and how you can get involved! To link up with all the other entries for today's prompt word, click here.

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The very blue sky of twilight silhouetting the bare branched oak in our front yard.

Have you ever had a blue day? You know what I  mean. A day when you felt down or sad or just in some kind of a funk? I think we all have.

As you may have noticed, I write a lot about having blue days and that's because so much of what I deal with on a daily basis is depression. But depression isn't a blue day. It can be a blue mood, but depression is much more than that. For me, when my depression gets very very bad, it's much closer to inky black than blue.

The fact is that depression is far more than just a blue day. It is a diagnosis of a particular mental illness. It's much more complex than just feeling down or even feeling hormonal because it's "that time of the month." It's more than just getting angry because someone hurt your feelings. It's more than the heartbroken feeling of having a boyfriend break up with you or a friend be unkind. It's not just feeling a little less hungry or having such a rotten day that you feel like you need a slice of chocolate cake.

Depression is all of these things at once and multiplied by 100 or more. Truthfully, these symptoms are just the short list and 100 is a conservative figure. I've had days where it was so heavy that it felt like it was closer to multiplied by 1000. It's a complex and often puzzlingly arduous disease to deal with and one that I wouldn't wish on the most evil person in the world. It is a fight and a struggle -- sometimes one that is so intense and difficult that it becomes a matter of life and death.

So I say this to say this -- please remember when life gets you down and you're having a blue day that it's not the same thing as feeling depressed or struggling with depression. Please don't say that you are "so depressed" when the reality is that given a few hours' good sleep, a long chat with a good friend, or even a slice of that chocolate cake, you'll find yourself feeling much better. Blue days are blue days and exaggerating them into something they are not diminishes the real struggle of mental illness.

For more information about what depression looks like and how to help and support those you know who are struggling with it, read 10 Things To Know About Depression (part 1 and part 2).

And since today's prompt word is blue....my new pretty blue fingernail polish! Ta da!!!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's sparkly too! So much fun in such a tiny bottle!

Join in the Five Minute Friday fun and link up at Kate Motaung's blog!