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My Fight Against Depression Became A Soulful Diary

Many years ago with a heart full of dreams and a mind teeming with creativity, I used to spend most of my days sketching delightful characters and bringing them to life on paper. I was a designer for a TV channel and a cartoonist for a few papers. My art was a reflection of the world, a world full of whimsy and charm.

However, beneath this cheerful facade, I battled a darkness that weighed heavily on my soul. I had a painful breakup that was, in a way, a repetition of my divorce.

Depression and solitude often crept into my life, making it challenging to find solace in the outside world.

Feeling isolated and disconnected, I decided to find a way to express these harsh emotions and cope with the swirling whirlpool of feelings within.

An idea struck me then. Why not turn my fight against depression into a diary? something unique and therapeutic?

An outlet for my emotions, where I could pour my heart out and fight against the shadows of darkness and solitude I was experiencing.

Thus, the diary was born. I decided that every day, I would draw a comic panel, illustrating what I was experiencing, no matter what were my thoughts, and emotions.

As the days passed, the diary became a trusted confidant, a safe haven where I could express my deepest fears, anxieties, and joys. The pages were filled with tales of personal growth, each comic serving as a stepping stone toward healing and self-discovery.

The journey was not without its challenges. There were days when I felt the weight of depression pulling me into darkness. Doubts would cloud my mind, and solitude seemed to intensify. But through the power of art, I did my best to fight back against the darkness, refusing to let it consume me entirely.

I never published the diary but I want to share some pages now with “Bored Panda” as I believe art forms a connection, bringing together people who can find comfort in knowing they are not alone. The diary has a code, made often in color.

The colors would change. If my girls were to appear in the diary then everything would be yellow. as if they would bring with them light. If my Mum was there, the warmth she radiated made everything a loving warmth of orange.

Sometimes if I will dream, I will draw the dream in colors. Everything else was either black…or white.

I hope the realization that this diary can become a beacon of hope for others gives me the strength to publish some pages and reveal what I was passing through and that -you- can also be healed from depression.

Maybe a mental health organization can use this post to raise awareness about depression and loneliness, promote discussions about mental well-being, and eradicate the stigma surrounding mental health struggles.

The very thing that once threatened to consume me maybe can become the catalyst for a greater cause. I know now that I had an ally in my art, a weapon to fight back.

With every stroke of the pen, I remind the world then as I do now that even in the darkest of times, a glimmer of hope and healing could be found within the pages of a comic strip diary.

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