Let me start by expressing that you are not alone. So many people battle depression every single day. This does not make you abnormal. This does not make you crazy. Above all else, this does not by any means define who you are.

A lot of people feel as if going through depression is their fault, when in fact it’s not. It was never someone’s choice to struggle through each day with a heavy weight on his or her shoulders. No one wakes up in the morning and decides that they’re going to feel empty and lose interest in the things that would normally bring them joy. No one wants to feel hopeless and I can guarantee you that there isn’t a single person in this world who wants those they love to blame them for what they’re going through. This is a reality for a lot of people battling through this disease. Sadly enough, a lot of people forget that depression is exactly that -- a disease.

We need to stop blaming people for falling victim of something that life cruelly decided to gift them. It’s far from a gift, and more so a curse, that they have to live with for the rest of their life. I have a friend who battles depression every single day, and it’s something that she tells me will never go away. She had a hard time with it years ago and was even admitted to the hospital because it got too out of hand. It knocked her down, but looking at the person she is today, I believe she was able to rebuild herself into a stronger person. She doesn’t let it define who she is and instead makes it something she learns from and grows from.

I can’t accurately describe what people with depression go through because I myself don’t suffer from it. But watching the people around me that do suffer from depression is enough for me to say that, in all honestly, it’s unfair. No one asks for this terrible thing to happen and yet, it slowly begins to take over their being.

I’ve been told that depression is like drowning; you struggle to breathe while everyone else is breathing perfectly fine. If you really think about it, life is like an ocean. Sometimes the water is rough and the waves may easily drag you under. Other times it’s calm and you’re effortlessly able to float, but no one floats through life without getting hit by a few waves. I could say that how you handle being dragged under the water determines the type of person you are, but it really doesn’t. Knowing how to recover from that wave and not knowing what to do is the difference between overcoming a difficult time and suffering from depression.

Sometimes you just don’t know how to swim and can’t figure out how to float, and that’s OK. Being perfect is unrealistic and is far out of reach for everyone in this world. But please know that no matter how many waves drag you down, there will always be someone there to help you float.