My connection with Anne Hallward’s TED talk

Anne Hallward’s TED talk on shame addressed something that we can all relate to on some level, I feel as if we have all had something about us that we are ashamed of and fear that if we tell people, they will instantly think we are weird or there is something wrong with us, but that is what makes us all human. I have always been a very happy person but when I went to high school my mood started to change due to being picked on by some girls at my school, and I became very sad to the point of sleeping way to much, never wanting to talk to anyone and just feeling off. I had heard about depression but had never seen someone go through it, when Anne said, “shame leads to hiding and hiding leads to shame and it makes us want to go into the closet”, that is exactly how I felt. I did not understand what depression meant, I had only seen what I called “stereotypical” things about depression, but I did not know any better. I did not know that it can be something temperary and everyone deals with depression differently. I felt shameful to tell anyone because they would think I was “crazy” or suicidal but in fact I was just stressed and sad. Now I know more about depression and that was because I spoke to a therapist and she told me the truth about depression, and it is perfectly okay to talk to people when things get bad, but not talking about it can be bad, “..shame around mental illness is almost as bad, if not worse, than the mental illness itself”, the shame I felt from what I THOUGHT depression was compared to what it actually is helped me deal with it the right way.

Anne Hallward and Angela Davis both had a story and they both choose to tell that story in hope that it will help other people, or initiate change as to the way “society” thinks is right or wrong. They both had very different lives but dealt with there challenges head on. Nothing can change if we do not see the problem first, we have to hear what is wrong before something can be done.