Senses

Depression does not always arrive screaming. 

Sometimes it arrives quietly. 

Dulling every sense you have, 

until the world becomes something you can no longer fully feel. 

It starts with touch. 

The weight of your own body feels heavier than it should. 

Your hands reach out, but everything feels beyond your grasp. 

You become disconnected from the person living inside your own skin. 

Then, one day,

The sun finds you again. 

You feel its warmth on your face. 

The embrace of someone who loves you. 

Your feet planted firmly on the ground. 

The softness of your pet’s fur. 

And for a moment, 

You remember what it feels like to belong to your own body. 

Then depression takes your hearing. 

The world becomes an echo of emptiness. 

Silence becomes deafening. 

Your own thoughts become the loudest thing in the room. 

Then, one morning, 

You hear it again— 

Birds singing before the day begins. 

Your own laughter catching you by surprise. 

The song you forgot you loved. 

The world has been speaking all along. 

You are finally able to hear it. 

It steals your sight next. 

Colors fade. 

The world loses its contrast. 

The little things that once made you smile become harder to find. 

But, slowly, 

Your eyes begin to linger again. 

A sunset worth stopping for. 

Light spilling through the trees. 

A smile from a stranger. 

The world looks a little brighter than it did yesterday. 

Depression changes your taste. 

Food becomes flavorless. 

Meals become something you endure not something you experience. 

Then slowly, 

Comfort returns. 

A favorite meal, 

Fresh fruit in the summer, 

The realization that nourishment can feed more than hunger. 

Finally, there is smell. 

Forgotten candles collecting dust. 

Memories losing their fragrance. 

The mustiness of isolation. 

Until— 

Coffee brewing before sunrise, 

The pages of an old book.

Rain after a storm. 

Fresh air filling your lungs as if your body remembers how to breathe again. 

And you discover— 

Depression did not take the world away. 

It only made you forget how to experience it. 

Healing was never one big moment; it was five senses finding their way back. 

A little warmth. 

A familiar song. 

A splash of color. 

A taste of comfort. 

A breath of fresh air. 

Somewhere along the way, 

You look around, and realize

You are no longer existing inside the world, 

You are sensing life again.