Going back to work was a turning point for Amanda1 in overcoming her depression.
Transcript
And then I went back to work at um when my daughter was about nine months. Where, where my husband and I work they top up your salary for 12 weeks. So if my husband took three months off work too then he’d get the top up. So it made sense for me to go back to work and him to take three months off.
And that was wonderful. It was the best thing we ever did. First of all I went back to work and I realized I missed my daughter. And here was I didn’t feel like I was connecting with her and realizing that I missed her made me realize that I must have these feelings for her. It also helped my husband realize how difficult it is to be home during the day, you know. So he got a taste of wow, you know, how isolating it is. How much of a challenge it can be just to do simple tasks like the laundry when you have a nine-month old, you know. So he really I think was much better able to, to help me when he realized what it’s like to be home during the day with a baby. And she got, my daughter got the benefit of a relationship with her dad that was without me. You know, like before any interaction he had with her I was in the room sort of thing. So it was not that one, you know, that personal relationship. And to see the way she would get excited when he walked in the room and was great. It was like “Wow she had a personality and a personality and a life beyond who I am, you know?”
And so it was funny that to me anyway that separating myself a little bit made me realize how much I really was connected to her. And – and so I think that was really a big turning point for me with the depression because I can get that break away and go away during the day. And I felt so much more excited to be home with her when I came home. And I wanted to spend time with her now. And I wanted to see how she was developing. I kind of missed it, you know. And that was really great.
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