This poem was inspired by Sabrina Benaim’s “Explaining My Depression to My Mother.” all I had to do was to leave the car, but my hands froze,and my heart beat faster and fasteruntil terror rose above melike a boat facing a threatening wave until the wave capsized the boat,and my breath stuck in my chest […]
via Social Anxiety — An Alien at Sea
Sometimes it’s just easier not to share things with people who are committed to misunderstanding you. I read a quote once that read, “I stopped explaining myself when I realized people only understand from their level of perception.”
One of the most bizarre experiences I had dealing with depression is when I had to explain to a close acquaintance of mine why I was unable to attend an event with her one evening. I told her my monsters were incredibly fierce that day and I didn’t have it in me to be brave and face anyone else. Her response was, “Oh man, you’re still depressed?!”
How do you explain brokenness to someone who has never experienced it for themselves? It’s like trying to explain the color blue to someone who has been blind all their life. Inevitably, there comes a point where you just stop trying to make people understand.
Author: ebonyandcrows
Hello and welcome to my page~
My name is Larisa--a very common Slavic name that was either derived from the Latin word hilaris, meaning "cheerful," or from the Greek city of Larissa, meaning "strong fortress."
Born in Ukraine, I emigrated with my family to America when I was still a small child and now make my home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Growing up immersed in two vastly differing cultures led me to have a burning curiosity about people all over the world. Stemming from said curiosity, I have fallen in love with traveling to other countries, meeting new people and delving into their culture, exploring new cities, and of course, dining on the local cuisine!
If I cannot escape into a different country, then my next favorite method of adventure is to lose myself in a spectacular book. I enjoy books of all genres--from fiction and novels, to biographies and ethnographies. As long as it captures my fancy and holds me spellbound the entire time, I will burn through the book like a forest fire! Because of this penchant for reading and travel, coupled with my love of deep and mysterious things, I have been often called a dreamer and I find the title suits me.
With that being said, I invite you to stay a while, perhaps make yourself a cup of tea and linger through my posts and feel free to comment or share a thought :-)
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Ebony and Crows 
This is powerful. It’s hard to explain yourself, when no one understands… So you’re left alone with your thoughts…
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Being left alone with your thoughts can be a crazy experience, unfortunately.
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So true, often those thoughts need some form of expression, one could explode from bottling it up… Why one of my favorite pass time is Journaling 😄😊. Gosh writing is therapeutic to the soul. It’s such a healthy form of self expression…
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It’s funny, I started a blog on WordPress several years ago to start chronicling my journey with depression and then I ended up deleting it because of depression. I laugh about it now because of the irony.
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This is excellent! Perception has many faces… We need to make the choices… I loved this line:
You don’t have to agree with the world’s definition of you.
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Thank you! I have caught myself making a statement about someone or something, then stopping to think about it for a minute, and then having to alter my statement to “well maybe that’s just how I’m perceiving it.” And no, we definitely don’t have to agree with anyone’s definition of us!
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Yes absolutely true 🧡 thank you for this!
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You’re most welcome 💕
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♥️
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Yes, it can be quite disheartening, even frustrating to “explain” ourselves to others …. it automatically puts us on the defensive ….. I don’t appreciate it when others impose their beliefs and perceptions on me …. I love respect ….. I love being free to be me ….. and letting others be ….. I love that levity, clarity, and flow …… 🌟⭐️⭐️💫🌟⭐️✨💫🌟✨💫
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That’s true. And it’s hard to actually get your point across when you’re being defensive. Just not a pleasant feeling all around.
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Totally agree!
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Such great writing.
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Thank you so much!
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Well written!
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Many Thanks!
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I think that she was rather dismissive. You can only try to explain to her/them, but after that, it’s on them to understand, or be willing to understand.
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Something that I started saying in conversation when talking about certain topics is “you don’t know what you don’t know.” She can only see life through her own circumstances—she lives in her own mind, after all. I am always aware that people see things through their own experiences, and if those experiences don’t align with yours, it’s simply better to stop trying to explain something that person can’t grasp because it’s so foreign to them. They’re not trying to be mean, they’re simply ignorant.
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