‘I don’t need help, I’m going to beat this myself.’

Quick question, when are you most likely to say the above words:

a) when being diagnosed with diabetes?

b) during a heart attack?

c) when you are crippled by depression?

Nobody likes a smart arse but let’s be honest, I can speak for the vast majority of the population when I say it’s ‘c’, isn’t it?

There are many reasons why we struggle to ask for, or accept, help when struggling with depression.

We fear being labelled, being thought of as weak, fear losing those that are closest to us, fear losing our job, fear it being on our medical records for future employers to see and to deny us opportunities, fear of having our kids taken off us…

Regardless of how weak the relationship is between our fears and reality, they feel crushingly real when we are shrouded in depression’s black lights.

When we’re in our toughest fight, when our opponent knows all of our weak spots and is merciless in attacking them, when the punches are raining down on us and we are trapped against the ropes unable to see a way out, when we don’t have a referee to jump in and stop the assault and save us from further punishment… help is exactly what we need.

Every fighter has an opponent that they struggle to beat – even The Greatest himself, Muhammad Ali, had Ken Norton and Joe Frazier.

Not only is there no shame in that, but often their very greatness is actually defined by their toughest struggles. And it’s an oft-repeated truism in boxing that it’s how you come back that defines you.

What helps us to meet and overcome our greatest challenges and opponents in life?

• an understanding of the scale of the challenge
• awareness of the nature of what will be demanded of us
• an understanding of the opponent’s weaknesses
• the belief that we can face and surmount our challenges, even if we have to borrow that belief from others
• proof that the obstacle can be overcome
• a plan of what we need to do
• someone in our corner that we can look to when we feel like giving up, who can help us to dig deep and discover reserves of strength and endurance that we didn’t even know were there
• a compelling reason to sustain us through the setbacks and to keep us going when we don’t believe we can
• doing the hard work that’s needed to win.

Daunting isn’t it?

But there’s no way around it. As a certain Rocky Balboa said, ‘That’s how winning is done!’

And while it’s wise to pick our battles, sometimes we have no choice. We have to fight. We don’t choose depression, but once it chooses us there is no hiding place. And though the fight is our own, we don’t have to fight it alone.

I’ve fought depression, and I won.

Now, I’ve created the Knock Out Depression programme to help you in the fight against depression.

You can win too.

Find out more about Knock Out Depression and how you can come back punching, learning from the struggle and using its lessons to be a champion in life: https://changeyourstory.org.uk/KODepression/