This is to all who showed me there was indeed light at the end of the tunnel.

Last night, I accomplished something which was six years in the making.

Last night, I accomplished something which I never thought I’d have the courage to actually do.

Leading up to last night, I’d never felt so low, so isolated. But in fact, I was never alone. I was surrounded by a number of people, who, despite my disagreement, constantly reminded me that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel; no matter how long or dark it may seem.

There is a common myth about depression that if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. You can’t have depression because people can still see you smiling when someone tells a funny joke or that you don’t ‘look’ sad.

Sorry to break it to you but depression is a real illness with real symptoms, and it’s not a sign of weakness or something you can “snap out of” by “pulling yourself together” as many would suggest you can do.

It takes time, perseverance and a solid support network to help pull you through.

Fortunately, unlike some, I can say that I have had that support network to help guide me through my dark times, and more than anything to be patient with me as I came to terms with tackling the cause.

For that, I just want to say ‘thank you’ to every single person who took the time to ask me if I was ok if they noticed that something was wrong.

I want to say ‘thank you’ to every single person who put their own lives to the side for just a couple of minutes to try and help me pull through.

And I want to say ‘thank you’ to every single person who just sat and listened to me, allowing me to fight half the battle and get all of the negative feelings out of my head, because at the time, I probably didn’t say thank you and show you how much that little piece of kindness truly meant to me.

Whilst it may have taken me a while to get there, the light that you all kept mentioning to me has finally appeared.

Rich.