In October, I listened to a song called Hold Me by Brennen Henson on repeat. One of the lines of the song was, "for the seventh time this week, it's only Wednesday."
In my experience with depression, time has a massive influence on mood. I was trying to support a suicidal friend over the phone this week, and he kept saying, "I don't think I can make it through the next six months." When the pain is uncontrollable, every day feels like eternity. I had no idea how much pain one could feel in the span of 24 hours until my most recent depressive episode.
One of the most helpful things anyone told me was to stop thinking so far into the future. It's overwhelming for anyone, let alone someone in so much pain. Just think about tomorrow. Just try to stay safe tonight. Heck, I've had weeks where I took it 5 minutes at a time, when I told myself, "ok, I will not do anything I might regret in the next 5 minutes."
Looking back at the last 5 months is really empowering because by taking it a tiny step at a time, I've made it through almost half a year. These have been the most difficult 5 months of my life, but it helped that I recognized how time was influencing my mood and that I reframed how I saw the situation by taking it one day at a time.
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