The month of October is already here. To be very honest, this entire year has been a big motion blur. Each day indistinguishable from the other, so the weeks and so the months. This year subjected humanity to transitions that weren’t previously thought possible. First, we were locked in our houses for months on end. And even when we stepped out, it was with the fear for our lives. The threat of World War 3 was prominent amidst the pandemic. And the tolerance for the inconvenience was at an all-time low, taking a toll on our mental health.

We avoided gatherings, shunned our social groups, and distanced ourselves from our loved ones. But man is called a social animal. We work in groups, hunt in packs, and even pray in masses. This kind of social distance made us realize that the boogeymen under our beds are real. This year made us realize that mental health and illnesses are real.

So This Spooktober, I wanted to put the vampires, witches, trolls, and ghouls back into the “once upon a time” stories. Instead, let’s talk about the horrors that wander among us, within us, freely.

People are calling the COVID Depression — the state of anxiety & sadness you feel after being locked down in a restricted environment for a prolonged duration. This has had a stronger effect on the ones who couldn’t place themselves in a favorable situation, or in a worse case, found a hostile one. With little to no cope with the rising stress, people experienced outbursts and harmful thoughts towards themselves or others.

The funny thing is that “The COVID Depression” isn’t a phenomenon that occurred due to the viral outbreak. It was a mirror that made us look at what we had been avoiding to see or admit — “We too are vulnerable to mental unhealth.”

The first step to solving a problem is admitting that there is one. I have felt myself looking into that Abyss many times — we all have whether we like to admit it or not. But that’s because there has been always this barrier — a false sense of bravado. We pretend to shake it off our shoulders while scoffing at the ones who deal with it.

And that’s why I decided to let the zombies stay in their graves, elves in their woods, and witches in their cabins. Instead, let’s bring out the real horror — Anxiety, Depression, Insecurities, Suicidal Thoughts — and let’s deal with them. Let’s break off the taboo and let’s talk about it.

The article is contributed by Harsh Sharma. Read more from Harsh HERE

Originally published on October 10, 2020.