Announcement: I’m now calling for questions for the next Ask Erik column. Please email me ONE question and keep it short and succinct. Mind your grammar and typos if you can! My email address is emedhus@gmail.com. It’s first come, first serve so don’t delay. 

One last thing: Happy Mother’s Day to each and every mom, in spirit and living! 

Story #1

I started watching on you tube about 2 yrs ago. I want to say thank you!! I have been suffering for many years with depression and so on….Eric has made such a huge difference in my life. I am not good at this just want to say THANK YOU!!!

Story #2

I love all your work but recently just got Erik’s memoir book… just wow. I know Eliza is probably too busy to personally read stuff but I felt compelled to reach out as I’m pretty sure I have BP… or at least severe depression and always have. It’s been a nightmare between getting proper care, medications that rarely help and trying to get through each day. Most of all dealing with cruel people.

I loved reading Erik’s story and although I can’t leave my doggy family and friends here the way he did I was crying tears of relief to know it’s just the imperfect brain I have here on earth and that one day I will be free and whole again. I think good days or weeks for us are the hardest, because it makes us realize that we are trapped in our own skin and that it’s not normal to just feel sad all the time. I can so relate to impulsively distracting myself with concerts, possessions and extreme sports to escape. It’s hard to talk to people as even therapists don’t understand that we can’t Wayne Dyer our way out of the darkness and it can be incredibly frustrating trying too hard to think positive etc.

I am older than Erik… and at 33 things are still not always better (cause people always tell depressed people to keep going because everything will magically get better) but I’m going to see my life through the best I can, juggling diet, pills and avoiding triggers. It does get harder as you get older, so at least he got to avoid that. I watch my friends and family start families of their own and that’s just not something I can do or want to do, which is also sad. Well, I COULD do it… but it would probably add stress for me. We don’t like hurting other people with our unwanted anger and sadness.

What I wanted to say is that I admire you guys for accepting and understanding his choice not to live like this, because it is a terrible disease and no one should be judged if they feel it isn’t the right path for them. I am so so sorry for your loss and what you went through trying to help him. I love all Erik’s blogs and look forward to finishing the book. But I thank you for putting it out there, because I feel less alone and less that it’s my fault for being depressed a lot. And I’m excited that there will be a life without depression for me when God is ready for me to cross over. 😉

Love and Light & please keep the blogs coming….

N