Michelle Obama has broken her silence on her experience with low grade depression

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She might not live in the White House anymore, but that hasn’t stopped former First Lady Michelle Obama inspiring us on the regular.

In fact, she’s our go-to girl when it comes to pep talks.

The world was relieved therefore when she launched her own podcast, dishing out endless advice and inspiration.

This week, the former First Lady made news as she opened up about her experience with low grade depression this year, breaking her silence on The Michelle Obama Podcast.

‘Not just because of the quarantine,’ she continued. ‘But because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting.

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We’ve all been dealing with a lot of change in our lives and our communities. We’ve experienced the shock—and the aftershocks—of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. And all this is happening amid this life-altering pandemic, which has upended so much of life as we’ve always understood it. All this change can feel pretty heavy—and we’re often left to deal with it at a moment when we’re forced to spend more time alone—more time in our own heads—than we’re used to. I couldn’t think of anyone better to talk about all of this with than my friend and confidante, @michele__norris. In the next episode of The #MichelleObamaPodcast, we're talking about life during this strange and exhausting time. You can listen to our conversation now on @Spotify—link in my bio.

A post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Aug 5, 2020 at 5:58am PDT

‘I don’t think I’m unusual, in that. But I’d be remiss to say that part of this depression is also a result of what we’re seeing in terms of the protests, the continued racial unrest, that has plagued this country since its birth. I have to say that waking up to the news, waking up to how this administration has or has not responded, waking up to yet another story of a Black man or a Black person somehow being dehumanized, or hurt or killed, or falsely accused of something, it is exhausting. And it has led to a weight that I haven’t felt in my life, in a while.

‘I’m waking up in the middle of the night, ’cause I’m worrying about something or there’s a heaviness. I try to make sure I get a workout in, although there have been periods throughout this quarantine, where I just have felt too low. You know, I’ve gone through those emotional highs and lows that I think everybody feels, where you just don’t feel yourself, and sometimes there’s been a week or so where I had to surrender to that, and not be so hard on myself. And say, “You know what? You’re just not feeling that treadmill right now.”’

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So excited for you to hear the first episode of The #MichelleObamaPodcast with @BarackObama! I wanted to start this season off by discussing a relationship that a lot of us are spending a lot of time thinking about right now and that’s our relationship with our community and our country. Given everything that’s going on in the world, I think that these days, a lot of people are questioning just where and how they can fit into a community. And how you answer those questions is unique to you, your experiences, and your communities––but the important thing is that you do go through the process of reflecting and reaching out to loved ones to talk through what you’re feeling and what you’re hoping for. Because once you do those things, I think you’ll have a better sense of your community, your country, and yourselves. And if enough of us can do that—and if enough of us can empathize with one another—then over time––and it will take a long time, we can come up with some solutions and create the change we’re all hoping for. Click the link in my bio to hear my conversation with Barack!

A post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Jul 29, 2020 at 5:00am PDT

She continued: ‘So for me, my spirit is lifted when I am feeling healthy, when I am surrounded by good people, you know, so I reach out. I reach out to my family, and to my friends, even in this time of quarantine. You know, I fought to continue to find a way to stay connected to the people in my life who bring me joy, and my girlfriends, my husband, my kids; it’s the small things … because you have to recognize that you’re in a place, a bad place, in order to get out of it. So you kinda have to sit in it for a minute, to know, oh, oh, I’m feeling off. So now I gotta, I gotta feed myself with something better.’

The Michelle Obama Podcast is available on Spotify.

The post Michelle Obama has broken her silence on her experience with low grade depression appeared first on Marie Claire.

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