You might be looking at this photo and thinking, “Oh, Tina looks like she’s having a great time enjoying beautiful weather in the park.”

Can you tell an hour before this photo was taken, hubs struggled to get me to leave our home? Can you tell I had been curled up in bed crying? Can you tell it was next to impossible for me to get myself ready and out of bed that afternoon? NOPE.

The truth is photos on social media and the Internet, in general, can be so deceiving. What you see here is a woman with Crohn’s and 37520572 other ailments smiling in a park because that’s what you do in a photo. You smile.

So what’s my point? Mental Health. No one wants to talk about depression but it is REAL. It is just as real as the physical aspects of chronic illness and comes hand-in-hand with physical health conditions. And for me, being on the brink of yet another potentially devastating diagnosis when I have 8 million of them already is STILL so hard. It doesn’t get easier even though I know it is coming and even though I have been on the diagnosis determination roller coaster before. Acceptance takes time; a new diagnosis isn’t something we just get over.

So what does depression look like? We struggle to not just get out of bed but to concentrate, enjoy ourselves and be in the company of others. We might not be as jovial or as fun-loving as usual and some of us might be sad, angry and have negative thoughts. And that’s OK. We all go through it. It is the natural course of life especially when we are struggling so hard with being chronically ill as it is.

Sometimes depression comes in waves. Other times it lasts long periods of time. But it doesn’t just go away. What’s important is that we recognize it and speak up about what we need. I see a therapist and that’s OK. In fact, it is perfectly normal. Some of us take medications. And that’s OK too. Whatever you need to do to get through it is what’s right for you. And what’s right for one isn’t always right for another.

So, own your Crohn’s, own your mental health, and let’s end the stigma surrounding depression right here, right now. Let’s take the necessary steps to help ourselves through depression. We too can get through this. There is nothing to be ashamed of; struggling with emotional health is more common than we realize and casting our feelings aside won’t make them go away. Let’s seek treatment and take care of our mental well-being the same way we would manage our physical health.

**LOVE, LIGHT & PEACE ALWAYS**