Be Not Discouraged
“I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” — Ephesians 3:13
Before he was a teenager, Martin suffered from such depression that he twice tried to commit suicide. As an adult, he experienced several bouts of severe depression
He kept his incidents with depression a closely held secret due to the mental health stigma at that time and concern civil rights opponents would use it against him
The more Martin Luther King, Jr. became an integral leader in the civil rights movement, his depression intensified. In 1959, three years after beginning his public life, Martin felt depleted: ‘What I have been doing is giving, giving, giving, and not stopping to retreat and meditate like I should — to come back. If the situation is not changed, I will be a physical and psychological wreck. I have to reorganize my personality and reorient my life. I have been too long in the crowd, too long in the forest.”
Despite his struggles with severe depression, living his life under the constant threat of physical harm and assassination attempts, numerous arrests for peaceful civil disobedience, hostile threats, and accusations, Martin never wavered in his convictions, beliefs, objectives, and dedication to fighting racial inequality.
