#17

What is depression? Is it this feeling that nobody can explain but everyone goes through? I don't think so; if everyone goes through it at some point in life, definitely at least one person can explain it. Never mind what depression is, does every depressed person know for sure that they're going through depression? Yes, there are known symptoms and signs but honestly, who can tell for sure that everyone goes through the same thing when they're depressed?

The problem with depression is nobody knows until its too late. We all like to think nothing is wrong with us. So when we get bitten by the depression bug, we all say its a spur of the moment, I'll be fine by morning, it'll pass like the storm. Nobody admits they're depressed until they're standing on a chair looking through the noose that's hanging from the ceiling. If they're lucky, help arrives just in time; if not, they become everyone's sad tragic loss.

Some people know that they're depressed but they still can't fix it. Reason being, they don't know why they're depressed in the first place. This comes back to how we all like to think we're fine. The truth is, we are all insane to some extent. Some people have OCD, that's madness to a degree; no it's not dangerous, it's not going to get anyone killed, but it is not normal.

Let me talk about normal for a second. Who defines what normal is? Just because a majority of people are a certain way doesn't mean its normal. Take a look at zombie films; the whole town is infected making the majority of people there zombies. So being a zombie is normal now? Its the same as who defines beauty. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. This only works if the beholder has their own legs to stand on and decide by themselves what beauty is to them and not go with the 'normal' definition of beauty.

Let's go back to depression, you can't tell a depressed person that they're depressed and that they need help. Forcing them to a psychiatrist is not helping them. They need to realize by themselves that they are in a rut and they need extra help getting out of it. Half the things that cause depression are things that we do not want to quit because we don't think its a problem until it's eating away at us and we're so addicted to doing it we can't stop and we don't want to stop because we don't see it as a problem in the first place.

Fixing depression? How on earth do you fix something that you don't think is a problem? Well, it is definitely going to take a lot of willpower. In this time and age, we are all lazy. Everyone looks for prescription drugs to help them out of depression. Prozac anyone? As if a measly tablet is going to tell you to stop being depressed. It has to come out of realization. It takes you to get up off the bathroom floor, to look in the mirror and to stop crying. No tablet can do that. Honestly, how many people can say 'I am chronically depressed and I am going to get help right now!'? Nobody is even going to admit to being chronically depressed let alone get help for it. We'd all like to say 'I'm not depressed' instead of saying 'I'm getting help for my depression'. Why? Simply because we're afraid of what people think of us.

A depressed person can be spotted among the public but only when its too late, only when they've given up on themselves and accepted the fact that they're meant to be depressed. The people that are going through the worst of times are all around us. Yes we all have problems and we learn to deal with them but most of us can't cope with a fraction of all the problems we face. Yet, we keep quiet about it and pretend nothing is wrong. We all wear this smile outside to our friends, to our children and yes, even to our spouses. Nobody knows the burning pain inside, nobody knows the lies you have to tell yourself just so you can get some sleep just so you can face yet another day full of lies.