See, here's the thing about depression. | |
Depression is like nature. You can try to control it and succeed | |
temporarily. You can try to ignore it, but it won't last. You can be | |
as happy as can be for longer than you can remember, and you'll be | |
lulled into a false sense of being over it or "cured". You're | |
not. Depression will always strike again, and it will always, always, | |
win. | |
Just like nature. We can put up dams, levees, and other such | |
structures to try and control nature. In the end, though, nature will | |
always be stronger and will break down all barriers. Not matter how | |
stong you make them, nature will be stronger. This is just a fact, and | |
something we've seem time and time again. | |
I believe the cause is similar between the two as well. Any structures | |
we build will be imperfect in someway, and even if they were perfect, | |
they will erode and deteriorate. This is fact. It's not that nature | |
gets stronger; it's that our defences weaken. It is the same with | |
depression. It is always there, eroding you down, until, eventually | |
and inevitably, you break. | |
So, our we sealed in our fate? Well, yeah, actually. However, that | |
doesn't mean there's nothing we can do. Just because we will break, | |
doesn't mean we shouldn't try to prolong it (however, not at the risk | |
of "holding it in", which is far more damaging). We should keep doing | |
what we're doing becasue sometimes just keeping things at bay is the | |
best we've got, so we may as well do it as best we can. | |
There's a more important matter that we can handle, though. Damage | |
control. After nature destroys towns, the wreckage has to be | |
controlled and rebuilt. We're no different. Our depression affects | |
more than just us, and while there's usualy not much we can do about | |
it at the time, we can certainly do our best to clean up our messes | |
when the storm passes. In the best case, we have folks to help us | |
through not only the clean up but also the storm itself. In the worst | |
case, we have no one. Personally, I find myself fortunate enough to be | |
in the former situation. I weep for those in the latter. | |
Postscript: When I talk about depression, I mean clinical, chemical | |
depression. The kind you get diagnosed with for the rest of your | |
life. The kind that gets inherited and passed on. The kind where the | |
doctors try to put you on drugs, and they might help a little bit for | |
a little while, but in the end are a futile effort. The kind that only | |
takes one slip to fall back into, but takes every ounce of effort to | |
get out of, leaving so little of you left that sometimes you wonder if | |
it was even worth the effort. (It is, of course.) So before any of you | |
try to start on a "it's just depression; get over it" argument, turn | |
around, leave, and most importantly, count your blessings and thank | |
whatever god(s) you might believe in that you don't have this kind of | |
depression. | |
Because it sucks. |