Last week I had a conversation with the psychiatric nurse practitioner who oversees my esketamine treatment. She was telling me about how she learned to appreciate sunsets. It made me think.
I pictured the sunsets I have seen. The sun is the ultimate light. Its beauty is spectacular, but how often do I stop and appreciate the beautiful glow of a sunset. As I thought about the sunsets, I realized sunrises share that same beauty. I was struck by a powerful symbolism. Indulge me as I share my thoughts and draw a connection between sunrises, sunsets, and mental health.
In past posts I have shared how my depression and anxiety are represented by darkness in my writing. Depression and anxiety are my night. When I am struggling with these mental illnesses, there is a lack of light in my life. Healing, which is represented by light, is not present. I struggle in my darkness. It is difficult to hold onto hope. So, how does healing find its way into my life or anyone’s? There is an emergence of light, a sunrise so to speak.
A sunrise is the emergence of the sun as it erases the night sky. Brilliant oranges and yellows appear as a new day begins. Sometimes there are also purples and reds. There is an amazing blending of bright colors. That same beauty is present when we heal from depression or other mental illnesses. A light rises within us. Healing happens in different ways for each of us. For some therapy is the key. Others find medication brings healing. There are others, who find healing from non-traditional treatments like TMS or esketamine. For most of us, healing comes from some combination of these and other approaches. The commonality is that healing brings with it a light. When we emerge from the darkness of mental illness, there is a sunrise in our lives. It may be subtle, but the light is there, and it is beautiful.
In the same way that the sun rises and sets, mental illnesses go through phases. We will have our nighttime, our struggles. This is when our night is darkest. The sun rises, though. We have our times of healing. When we are struggling, we can try to envision a sunrise. We can remind ourselves that with every darkness, there is a light waiting to rise.
Part of healing is chasing sunrises. Think about the sunrises you have seen. They are beautiful, right? When we chase sunrises, we are doing all that we can to find healing. Every day is going to look different. Healing is not linear. Shadows may appear and obscure the light. That is when we need to continue chasing the sunrise. It might mean an extra therapy session or time spent journaling. There are many coping skills we can employ to help us chase the sunrise and heal. (You can find a variety of coping skills that may help you in my recent post: Creating a Self-Care Tool Kit or my post Things You Can Do to Support Your Mental Health.
Not every day will have a sunrise. As I write this it is a rainy day. I did not see a sunrise this morning, but despite the dark gray clouds, I know the sun is still there. We need to approach our mental illnesses the same way. There are times when darkness engulfs us. In those times we need to remember that the light of healing is still there. I am not saying this is easy. Believe me, there are times in the darkness when I lose sight of the fact that the light of healing exists. I have an idea. I do not know how well this will work but I am going to try it. Find a picture of a sunrise. It can be one you take or one you find on the internet. Keep it on your phone. When darkness settles in and mental illness seems in control, look at the picture of the sunrise. Let it remind you that just as the sun rises every day, the light of healing will emerge again. If we look at this picture enough, we can capture it in our minds and envision it when we need it. I am going to give it try. Give it a try with me.
I started this post by talking about sunsets. I have not forgotten them. While a sunset leads into darkness, it is still a time when light is present. It represents a willingness to appear despite falling of darkness. In that sense it holds beauty. We can embrace sunsets the same as we would sunrises. We need only focus on the light of each. The brilliant oranges and yellows that remind us that hope and healing exist. In embracing sunsets, we are remembering that the light of healing is with us even as darkness approaches.As we struggle with mental illness it is important that we chase sunrises. We need to search for the light of healing. When the sun rises, we need to remind ourselves that healing is there for us. We may need to chase it with therapy, medication, non-traditional treatments, and/or our coping strategies. With these we can feel the warmth of the sunrise and beautiful healing into our lives. Let’s chase sunrises!
