Why Depression Shouldn't Keep You From Having a Fairy Tale Ending

Falling in love has never been an easy road. But falling in love when you have depression and anxiety? Well, for me, that’s more than just “not an easy ride.”

When did having a mental health problem become “baggage”? And more importantly, why do we believe this?

When you have a mental illness, it can be easy to convince yourself nobody will ever love you. It’s sometimes easy to believe you are too much hard work or your mental illness makes you unlovable. These are just a few things that can go through your head. Why do we punish ourselves with these thoughts? Why shouldn’t we be able to find love like Cinderella?

Though love isn’t always a fairy tale, it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be loved.

Maybe you punish yourself because you feel like by being with someone, you would be punishing them. Maybe you feel as though you are bringing them down when you can’t get out of bed or feel like they deserve more than you. But these are thoughts anxiety and depression want you to believe. You are not those thoughts.

It can be hard to believe someone could love you when you struggle to love yourself. That someone could see past the diagnosis and just focus on who you are. Someone who can see this amazing person you are and love you “warts and all.”

Please don’t ever believe you are not worth it. Please keep up your fight and remember no one is perfect. Please don’t beat yourself up because you can’t be 100 percent all the time. It is OK to have bad days and your future partner will know that too.

Having depression shouldn’t stop you from letting yourself love and be loved.

Be your own Cinderella, because trust me, you’ve got more than enough reasons to find your royalty.

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Thinkstock photo via Morgan_studio.