Suppression Leads to Depression

Suppression leads to depression. I will say it until every woman who was taught to be "fine" unlearns it. The anger you swallowed, the grief you postponed, the resentment you dressed up as patience — none of it expired. It settled. Into your body, your sleep, your tone, your patience with people who did nothing wrong.

Healing requires honesty, and honesty starts with vocabulary. Not dramatic vocabulary — accurate vocabulary. "I am grieving" is more accurate than "I'm just tired." "That hurt me" is more accurate than "it's fine." You cannot heal what you refuse to acknowledge, and you cannot acknowledge what you will not name.

So today, name it — out loud, on paper, in prayer. Not to wallow. To relocate it: out of your body and onto the page, where it can finally be worked with instead of worked around. What you can see, you can change.

Today's affirmation: “My feelings deserve a name, a witness, and a way out of my body.”

— Seven Calia