The last week of December 2022 and the first week of January 2023 were tough for me. I saw the other side of depression I have never experienced before. I never saw it coming. I shouted at everyone at home, cried to sleep, cried when I woke up, stared blankly into thin air, and my glasses almost got broken by Keke (Nigerians tricycle) during one of these blank episodes.
As of December 31st, I was yet to write my goals for the year 2023. It was like I had no expectations for the new year or I shouldn’t have one. Entering the new year, I was weak. I tried to pick up myself. I prayed solemnly to God to help me. I felt my dreams were crashing. I felt the battles were coming from every side.
Why am telling you this?
You may never see some things coming but you have to prepare for them. You have to prepare for the worst of you. You have to prevent yourself from hitting rock bottom when life challenges come against you.
How can you do this?
- Fortify your mind
The devil is a cunny being. He waits for a perfect moment to bring your fears upon you. This isn’t a typical love & relationship letter because when you are affected, even your relationship is at stake.
Don’t give the devil a seat at the table of your mind. Giving him a seat is by having fears. Some of the things you think happened, never did. Psychologists call this False Memories. Also, some of the things you dread will only happen because you keep thinking about it. I will explain this more in another letter.
For now, get up and do the work without thinking about how to get it done. Just start. Thinking of the process will never allow you to move. It will overwhelm you till you break down. Fight hard to begin and fight harder to complete it.
- Fortify your space.
As you journey through the year, surround yourself with able soldiers – able friends. People who also catch you when falling. The reason for this is that your continuity in the journey of purpose and vision will be dependent on how well they catch you.
They will be there to wipe your tears, pray for you, intercede for you, stand for you, comfort you, and fire you up to shoot again.
- Rest.
Take time off social media. Social media sometimes is the terrorist of the mind. It can cloud you from seeing your progress, and appreciating how far you’ve come and how much God has helped you.
Take some time to rejuvenate. It can be once a week or twice a month. Just rest. Do nothing. Watch a movie. Read a book. Sleep. Meditate. Just keep your phone far from you. If you are concerned about how things would be run without you, put things in place before then or just ghost everything.
Believe me, everybody will be fine.
You may not know how much you need it until life happens and you find out you’ve been cheating yourself.
- Read your Bible.
Dearest Testimony, there is strength in reading the Word of God. A daily dose of the word is important.
Do you notice the weakness you feel when you don’t eat for about 6-12 hours? Now think about how weak your soul feels when you don’t read your Bible. The word of God is the food of the spirit.
Don’t be so busy that you can read to gain strength and direction. The farther you stay away from the word, the weaker your spirit gets, and the easier you give the devil easy access to the table in your mind.
- Pray! Pray! Pray!
It doesn’t matter if it is a whisper. It is from your lips to God’s ears. Daily pray for strength. Daily pray for mercy.
Mercy isn’t only for the forgiveness of sins. Mercy is for that which you might not deserve to be given to you.
This is my charge to you. Rather than be taken unawares or consumed in weariness, prepare ahead. God is changing status this season. He is lifting men and this lifting will come with interruption. You will be receiving new instructions and directions and most times, they won’t make sense to you. Most times, only you will understand and it can either break or make you but it is my prayer it makes you.
- Activate Joy
Bask in the goodness of God. Remember His goodness. One of the ways to dig into God’s blessings for each day even when things seem tough is by doing the 3-blessing Exercise.
At the end of each day, think about three things that you are grateful for. Things that went well for you. An example is how you made someone’s day, how you made them smile, how you finished a course or even began a course, ate, sleep, woke up, had something to wear, wore shoes that wasn’t torn, wore shoes at all, etc.
Begin your day with looking forward to good things happening in your day and end the day with thanking God for the good things. Try as much as possible to keep your joy alive. Choose joy over a heavy heart. Why?
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad.” – Prov. 12:25 (AMPC)
Depression can make your heart stop. Change your music playlist. Fill it with songs of worship and praise to the King of kings.
With this said, I welcome you to the Year of the Lord. The year in which only that which the Lord purposes for your life will be accomplished.
Written by Ifunanya Eze.