"I missed the green light. This is so depressing." "Wanna hear the most depressing thing? So today in math class I was.." "They broke up?! I am so depressed!!!"
Over years and years, I can not help but always internally cringe whenever I hear somebody throw around "depressed" as a form of just being sad, just feeling normal human emotions, in their everyday conversation. As unintentional and mediocre as it might sound, I don't think people realize they are sending a very wrong and powerful the message. They are comparing something minor, something sad, to something so painful, so major, a mental illness itself that people struggle with to just stay alive everyday.
I don't feel offended because I know it's nothing personal, but I do get a little ticked off that this is even a thing. I mean, I along with 15 million Americans, have been struggling, fighting, crying, smiling, through our battle with depression for as long as we can remember. There are people out there who lost their fight to depression. There are people out there who are struggling internally painfully with depression who find it so hard to even just get out of bed without feeling like a numb, blurry version of themselves. There are people out there who's loved ones killed themselves because of depression. This word is so triggering and we can't just throw it around like it's nothing.
Depression is so serious. It blow my mind that today in this world, we can toss around words like "depressed", "retarded", "faggot", in our everyday vocabulary with no sense of what we are actually portraying with our words.
When you unintentionally use powerful words, like depression, to describe your everyday feelings, it slowly and unconsciously changes the true meaning of the word. If we keep throwing around depression like it's a normal part of our life, it makes us lose the clear sight that depression is a killer illness that a ton of people right now are fighting all their might for. When using "retarded", we aren't realizing that we are insulting and creating a negative connotation on a word that has no right to be manipulated.
If you're reading this, please be conscious of your word choices. I know it seems like it's not a big deal or that nobody is taking it personally, but I can confidently say that there have been multiple instances where I have been in a room and someone will throw "depressed" around like it's nothing, and my brain automatically focuses on that word, my heart beats faster, and I feel uncomfortable.
Stay conscious with your words and stay open minded with your context of conversation.
