I write this article in honor of my mom Sara Shewangizaw, who passed away from complications related to Covid-19 on May 15 of 2020. I also dedicate this article to the countless millions of people in America and hundreds of millions around the world who struggle with depression, anxiety and other mental maladies and have to muster the strength to overcome debilitating sorrows and incapacitating angst to survive each morning they wake up.
This is especially true of parents who suffer from mental illness like my mom did throughout most of her life. Not only did she have to juggle the burdens that comes with depression and anxiety, she had to do so while taking care of four children. It’s only now, in my mom’s absence and once I have a child myself, that I realize the depth of her power. For most of my adult life—after witnessing my mom cope with her demons for my days of youth to adulthood—I built up a wall between us and learned to love her from a distance.
The woman who brought me into this world, and who was my best friend growing up, all the sudden became an abstraction after I saw her trying to hurt herself in ways that have deeply traumatized me. I did not do it on purpose; my decision to build a wall between my mother and me was not malicious—it was a choice made out of self-preservation. Unable to understand why mom agonized while my friends’ moms seemingly thrived, I grew estranged from my own mother. In time, this decision became my own crucible...continued...
READ FULL ARTICLE AT: https://ghionjournal.com/be-kind-yourse ... -struggle/
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teodroseIII
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