It’s not black and white. I thought I had to define myself with one thing. People said have a niche so you can stand out. Find something you love and stick to it. But what happens when passions change and curiosities grow? I did conceptual photography for a few years, it was my therapy. But…
My computer died. I have everything backed up but for about 4 days I did not know what to do with my life. I couldn’t edit, update my blog, or do any work. It’s crazy that our whole lives depend on those machines. I’ll spare you the details of the painful recovery process (recovering my…
I’ve fallen down more times than I can count. I mean both metaphorically and literally; I’m clumsy. When I’m face down on the ground I feel like this is it. This is when I finally admit defeat. This is when gravity is my best friend. This is when I stay down. I feel defeated. So many…
Oh hi. This blog still exists. I didn’t forget about it, I’ve just been.. lost. Metaphorically speaking of course. I’m still here. I just felt like all this time, I didn’t have anything worth sharing. Which, I now realize, isn’t true. I’ve been to so many new places and met so many incredible people. In…
A few days ago, my therapist told me that I am no longer considered clinically depressed. I am a former depressive. I’m in remission. The medication and therapy is now only to prevent relapse. I’ve been in therapy for exactly 11 months, on medication for 10. It’s been a long and exhausting journey, but a…
A while back, I wrote a blog post about depression and the stigma that surrounds it in the UAE (and lots of Arab countries). I’ve been thinking about it a lot especially because I haven’t exactly been doing so well. I was debating whether or not I should talk about this, for the same reasons I mentioned…
Hi, my name is Amani, I deal with depression on a daily basis and I think about suicide at least once a day. For the longest time, I felt like a fake. There are people who can’t get out of bed, who can’t function, who can’t even eat, because of how bad their depression is. And I’m…
Amani AlShaali 