Celebrate The Ordinary: Day Three (or four if you're counting)

Those are my antidepressant pills, and every morning for thirty years I have swallowed them.  Gratefully.  

It was not always so--gratefulness, that is.  Not at first

I resisted for a long time because I thought it meant I was weak,

or crazy

or pathetic

or a failure
and a disgrace to God. 
That couldn't be me! I was a cheerleader, for crying out loud; voted "girl most likely to succeed!"
And now I wanted to kill myself???
I took the pills: they went down easy compared to my pride.
Slowly, with great effort, I came to my senses
Three steps forward, two back, I found my right mind. 
The pills alone did not give me my sanity, but they made it possible to regain it.
Taking the pills was one of the kindest things I had ever done for myself.
Thankfully, it is now a daily, 
ordinary thing.

Talking About Suicide

It might seem odd that I would talk about suicide on a breast cancer website, but the sad truth is that cancer patients often develop depression during the course of treatment. Even sadder is that too often they suffer in silence; either because they don't understand what is wrong with them, or they are afraid to tell anyone. This can lead to profound hopelessness, and even thoughts of suicide.
If you have someone in your life with cancer who is beyond sad and upset, but seems devastated and despairing, don't be afraid to ask this scary question.