When I was in high school I was a four-sport athlete. The sport I enjoyed the most was football. However, I was too small and too short to be effective in the upper leagues of football. By my own evaluation, I was pretty good at being aggressive; it was the only advantage I had because I was small. My junior year I was playing in the final game of the year and my coach moved me to nose tackle. This is a position normally played by big lineman. Because I was fast I could get around the slower larger lineman. This was the only game I ever played in that position, but I had an amazing game. About ¾ of the way through the fourth quarter, I got blasted pretty hard. I got hit so hard that I definitely had some level of a concussion, but the biggest immediate effect was that I couldn’t see. The hit had quite literally knocked the sight out of my head. It only lasted for about 30 seconds, but it was frightening. I didn’t know where to go or even what direction I was facing.
Depression can be similar to losing your sight. Depression has a tendency to step in when we can no longer see the correct actions to take to get out of the situations that we are in. When you can’t see potential through the mess you’re more likely to stop moving/taking action. The biggest problem with this is that once we stop, we become more and more entangled in the web of grief or loss that will continue to pull us down further and further.
One of the ways that we can overcome this stage of grief (which is something that happens regularly in many people's lives) is by being surrounded by people that can and will help us in our time of need. In these times when we cannot see, we need someone to help guide us. Will the relationships we build in the good times be there in our time of need?
In the football game where I couldn’t see, I had my teammates around me; they guided me back to the huddle and helped me see what direction I needed to go. Soon after, I began to see albeit with a haze. My vision improved as time went on. But it was my teammates that carried me through the darkness.
Who will grab your hand and guide you when you can’t see your way out? We all need to have an answer to this question.
