I had a friend say this to me when I mentioned that I had anxiety and depression – he was genuinely shocked that someone as ‘happy’ as me could be depressed. Happiness does not cancel out depression and vice versa. Happiness does not cancel out depression and vice versa. Crazy, I know, but true. Depression isn’t sadness, it’s a chemical imbalance in my stupid brain (I don’t mean that, I have exams coming up please don’t hate me brain). Sadness, apathy and all the fun (not fun) stuff that come with depression are a side effect that I’m learning to control. I’m teaching my brain to be nicer to itself and I’ll work out of it with a healthy dose of meds and therapy and kindness to myself. I like to think I’m a relatively happy person and I guess that’s my point – I am happy and I have depression. Anybody, happy or sad, can have depression – it doesn’t discriminate (which kind of sucks – wouldn’t it be really cool if only the people who were really, visibly sad all the time had depression? Instead of totally happy, well-functioning people? It would be so much easier to help people if you could tell just by looking at them). Be nice to people and ask them if they’re okay if you’re worried about them. Don’t be afraid to care about people and always take care of yourself.
The Life of a Mourning Dove 