Caregiver Depression: What a Public Confession Taught Me About Getting Through the Dark Days

When the YouTuber A-Ded spoke publicly about his own depression, it hit hard. So many long-term caregivers battle depression — like COVID-19, with no clear end in sight, it’s easy to slide into anxiety and despair.

As the mother of a child with a rare disease, I’ve walked through that dark valley myself, and every single thing he said resonated:

＊ Live in the present. Don’t dwell on the past, don’t worry about the future.

＊ Track your emotions every day — learn what sets them off.

＊ Like yourself. Hard for a perfectionist, but necessary.

＊ The biggest source of pressure is always failing to accept what’s happened to you — the comparing, the resenting.

＊ Find something else to care about, something that’s just yours — cooking, learning a language, anything — and rebuild your own sense of accomplishment.

＊ Meditation music and mindfulness practice genuinely help.

Resilience is a capacity you forge out of setbacks and low moments — you only recognize it, once you’ve been through it, as a gift in disguise.

The older I get, the more quietly I try to live. In an age of self-media, real happiness comes from being satisfied with your own effort and your own life.

We are all warriors of life — fight for ourselves and be satisfied with who we are~