FEATURED POST: Depression Is Not Beautiful

  

Written by marjramos– I get sucked under the waves of varying ferocity with no sense of direction. I don’t want help and I refuse to get better. Every waking day, it occurs to me that I don’t want to leave. My damaged body fights a long battle against my mind, both telling me different things. 

My friends and family see the problem, but I don’t. I look at the endless empty boxes of takeout, or I clean up after purging, or bandage bleeding wounds, but I see this as normal – I’ve never known anything else. It eludes from the change I desire to have; I’m doing fine on my own, ain’t I?

I hit a solid wall when I try to get a clear understanding of anything, so I stop trying. I am reminded daily of my flaws, reciting them to myself under my breath, hiding the words with half-hearted laughs. I’m nothing but a piece of crap and my life is a big joke. My skin is sliced open. Razor blades are bloody. There are band aids in the trash by the sink of the cold, lonely bathroom.

I must take a step back and inspect the damage. I sift through what remains of my life, never seeing the broken shards of the sanity I once had and not knowing I need to put them back together to form what it had been once before. Deep down, I know, there will always be lines to remind me of the fractures where I shakily repaired myself, so why bother?

I am forced to get some help and I am grateful for this. No longer do I hide away, make excuses, and cover my scars with long sleeves. I feel connected to the outside world for the first time in a very long time and it is an extremely liberating feeling.

I laugh, I cry, I make memories, and I finally enjoy life. I am no longer alone, hopeless, scared, or misunderstood. Every encounter is a small touch of warmth that never leaves, only burns brighter and brighter until I shine with a light I’ve never known. I want to cry, but out of happiness instead of sadness.

In a moment of clarity, I realize how alike I am to a flower. I grow in beauty, wither in sickness, and am carried by the seeds I left behind. This is my life. 

This post was originally featured on Thought Catalog 

 

Is Amazon’s Brick-and-Mortar Store A Facade For E-Commerce?

 

Experts think the company intends to sell more than hardcovers, paperbacks, and Kindles at its retail location.
 
Amazon has launched a new brick-and-mortar bookstore, but did it actually leave its heart in the web?
Dubbed Amazon Books, the new retail store is open at University Village in Seattle. 

In an announcement on Tuesday, Amazon Books vice president Jennifer Cast called the store “a physical extension of Amazon.com,” adding that the company has used the knowledge it’s gained over the last two decades about consumer tastes to create a desirable in-store shopping experience.

“The books in our store are selected based on Amazon.com customer ratings, pre-orders, sales, popularity on Goodreads, and our curators’ assessments,” Cast wrote in the announcement. “These are fantastic books! Most have been rated 4 stars or above, and many are award winners.”

Read more on Fortune 

Malcolm X’s Newly-Discovered Handwritten Letter On Sale For $1.25 Million

  
A recently-discovered letter reportedly handwritten by El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (aka Malcolm X) in 1964 describes racism at that time as an “incurable cancer” that was “plaguing” America. 

Los Angeles historic manuscript and letter dealer, Moments in Time, retrieved the six-page letter, reportedly written by the civil rights activist. It went on sale Sunday for $1.25 million. 

[Read more] “Malcolm X’s Newly-Discovered Handwritten Letter On Sale For $1.25 Million”