Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Add Upworthy to your Google News feed.
Google News Button

Jonna Roslund is a 26-year-old from Sweden who lives with depression.

Jonna Roslund


Source: Photo via Jonna Roslund, used with permission.

Living with a mental illness affects many areas of a person's life, including one annoyance most of us can relate to: the dread of household chores.

But for Roslund — and many people living with depression — the process of cleaning can be about so much more than simply tidying up.

"I suffer from severe depression and have a really hard time with cleaning and doing other kinds of household work," she wrote in a post on Imgur.

"My room [has] been this messy for several months [because] I can't push myself to take care of it," she explained. "But this Friday I decided to finally do it!"

She posted two photos of her bedroom — one before cleaning up, and one afterward.

This was Roslund's bedroom before she cleaned:

Messy bedroom before cleaning

Source: Photo via Jonna Roslund, used with permission.

And after she cleaned:

Clean bedroom after cleaning

Source: Photo via Jonna Roslund, used with permission.

What a difference some elbow grease can make, huh?

"You can finally see that I have a floor!" she wrote. "Say hi to my teddy Nalle on the bed!"

"I know it's not a big victory, but for me it means the world to just be able to have my door open if people come over. I feel so at peace right now ... Me 1 — Depression 0!"

The comments on Roslund's post are filled with words of encouragement, as other users expressed how relatable it is to see a messy room so perfectly symbolize their own form of mental illness:

"I too suffer from depression and I know how hard it is to function. You rock and you're an inspiration!"

"I've been suffering from bouts of depression and dealing with an eating disorder and my place is in disarray. This is inspiring."

"Good on ya! Cleaning is the first to go when my depression flares and cleaning is one of the things that can feel good in the depths."

"Good job, [Roslund]. One step at a time, one small victory after another, is what will get you through this. I wish you the best."

Roslund's experience with depression and struggling to stay on top of household chores isn't all that unique.

Feeling as though you have little energy and motivation is a common characteristic for those living with depression. Everyday tasks — from the bigger things like staying productive at your job to the smaller (but still important) things like completing household chores — can feel impossibly difficult at times.

Feeling overwhelmed

Source: iStock

That no-energy feeling is one that Roslund knows all too well.

"When you're depressed, it's a struggle to just get out of bed," she explains over email. "It makes other things that other, healthy people do, so overwhelming. It's like trying to run a marathon when you've been in a coma for years."

That's why Roslund's post resonated so widely. It touches on an important point: Sometimes small victories aren't so small after all.

Roslund wants the world to get better at how it addresses mental illness — and that starts with all of us.

"We need to be able to talk to each other about our feelings, even the bad ones," she writes. "And we need to be better at listening when someone is trying to talk to you about it, even though it's hard to hear."

It's a vital message to remember, especially since it's National Suicide Prevention Week. Depression and the risk of suicide are closely related.

"Be patient with yourself or the person you know who is going through a hard time. And it's important to remember that there is help out there!"

This article was originally published last year.

More For You

A man and woman kissing in the kitchen

Welcome to the "Boy and Girl apartment" trend

Unsplash

Women living in beautiful apartments share their secrets to co-habitating with a boyfriend

Blending styles can be difficult. Naturally, when two or more people are brought together, their visions aren’t always going to mesh. Like getting a haircut then realizing, after they spin you around for the big reveal, that your barber actually didn’t “totally get” the inspiration photo you brought in. Or teaming up with some friends for a group project in school who you didn't realize were petrified of public speaking. Or, take One Direction for example. Five solo singers who at didn't get along at all at first, brought together only after Simon Cowell corralled them all into a boy band.


Keep ReadingShow less
airport, flying, airport travel
person standing with holding luggage bag

Psychologist reveals exactly why everyone acts weird at airports

Fewer places bring out weirder human behavior than airports. Sleeping on floors? Acceptable. Paying $8 for a bag of chips? Acceptable. And 9 a.m. beers? Totally acceptable. Time (and personal space) seems to suspend itself when you're traveling in them. And psychologist Steve Taylor, a Senior Psychology Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, explained exactly why everything and everyone feels so weird when you're in an airport with The Conversation.

Simply put: airports cause disorientation. "Due to the haziness of time and place, airports create a sense of disorientation," he explains. "We define ourselves in terms of time and place. We know who we are in relation to our daily routines and our familiar environments. We also define ourselves in terms of nationality. Without such markers, we may feel adrift."

Keep ReadingShow less
10-year-old violin prodigy stuns airport travelers with flawless Vivaldi duet
Representative photo by Canva

10-year-old violin prodigy stuns airport travelers with flawless Vivaldi duet

A beautiful blend of talent, courage, and classical music left Rome Airport travelers in awe when a 10-year-old violin prodigy, Yeonah Kim (@yeonah_kim_violin on Instagram), performed an impromptu duet with pianist Julien Cohen. The duo’s breathtaking rendition of Vivaldi’s “Summer” turned the airport’s Terminal 1 into an unexpected concert hall, captivating both onlookers and millions of viewers online.

  Representative photo by Sebastian Mark | Unsplash 

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot from Madeline Delp's TikTok video

Madeline Delp records her encounter with a parking attendant.

TikTok | @madelinedelp

Woman chased down over disabled parking spot despite being completely within her rights

A woman using a wheelchair was left shaken after a parking attendant chased her downhill and berated her for parking in a disabled spot—despite her having every legal right to do so. Madeline Delp (@madelinedelp on TikTok) shared the unsettling experience in a series of videos, sparking outrage and support from viewers.

Delp had parked in a wheelchair-accessible spot near a business complex before heading to a doctor's appointment. However, as she made her way down a hill, a parking attendant aggressively pursued her, accusing her of misusing the spot.

Keep ReadingShow less
She noticed something odd in a news photo—25 years after her brother vanished
Representative image via Canva

She noticed something odd in a news photo—25 years after her brother vanished

When someone close suddenly disappears, their family clings fiercely to hope—even if the search stretches across decades. A woman who had spent years desperately searching for her younger brother, Tommy, discovered an astonishing lead after 25 years of uncertainty. Ahead of Thanksgiving, a seemingly ordinary detail in an online news story changed their lives forever.

For decades, the sister had carried deep sadness about Tommy’s disappearance in 1999. According to CNN, Tommy had vanished along with his vehicle without leaving any trace. Over the years, she anxiously scoured reports of unidentified remains, fearing the worst. However, her fortunes changed dramatically after coming across an article in USA Today, which featured a hospitalized man whose identity was unknown, as he could neither speak nor communicate effectively.

Keep ReadingShow less