Depression is a hard topic to talk about.
It’s an even harder thing to live through.
I’ve lived with depression for more than two decades.
After a while, there were a few things I learned about how to get by without giving up.
I want to start off with a disclaimer: these are my personal experiences.
I am not a doctor, nor am I qualified to diagnose or treat any given stranger.
That being said, here are some things that helped me.
Your Self-Perceptions Are Frequently Wrong
The central problem with depression is that it distorts your reality.
I’ll never get out of this rut.
No one really cares.
I’m not good at anything.
There’s no reason to keep going.
The voice that says to give up is a strong one.
The key thing to remember is that perception doesn’t equal reality.
Set aside depression for a moment.
It also occurs no matter what level of success a person achieves.
This is just one of manytricks your brain plays on you.
The problem is that depression takes away a lot of the motivation you gotta fight these inconsistencies.
A person with depression, by definition, has a hard time doing this.
It didn’t matter how much external validation I got.
It’s a hard fact to keep in mind.
Depression says that you’re different and no, really, you’re the exception to the rule.
After all, you’re not really a loser, right?
Get your happy face on.
Exceptthat’s not how it works.
Your emotions (and everyone else’s for that matter) are not inherently bound to facts.
That’s the whole point.
Depression isn’t about having perfectly justified sadness.
It’s about being unhappy despite your circumstances.
How you feel with depression is valid.
You don’t have to justify your feelings or defend them.
Everyone feels things that aren’t perfectly reflective of their situation.
It just means you gotta deal with your emotions in a different way.
You Need Other People
Depression is isolating.
The truth is, you do.
Because depression makes it difficult to accurately assess your situation, other people’s input becomes more important.
The scariest part about depression is that it’s in your head.
With depression, you might’t always know which feelings are based in reality and which are over-reactions.
Talking with other people is one of the most important ways you might learn to distinguish between the two.
Talking with other people about your depression is uncomfortable.
Others may not be so fortunate.
More importantly, there’s nothing wrong with doing so.
But the reality isn’t so simple.
And depression doesn’t mean you’re broken.
Depression is a maladjustment.
The way we react to emotions when we’re depressed isn’t calibrated the same way as other people.
That doesn’t mean you’re able to’t.
You’re not missing a happy gland.
You’re just out of alignment.
We all need to check in on our physical health once in a while.
It should be just as natural that weconsult experts on our mental health.
Not only that, but help can work.
It Doesn’t Always Have to Be Like This
Depression doesn’t have a “cure.”
Depression is in your mind.
Depression is, in some ways, part of your personality.
Even if you stop being depressed, how it felt shapes who you are.
you might’t necessarily be entirely separated from it.
you’ve got the option to feel different, though.
That notion isno longer accepted fact.
It’s not an easy process to change.
It may take a lifetime of adjusting.
Everyone’s different and there’s no perfect solution that everyone experiences the same way.
There’s a chance that things can get better.
Photos byHyperbole and a Half,aubrey.
