Have you ever overcome something that you thought was impossible? I have and it wasn’t easy. Depression affects millions of people everyday and I was one of them. I lacked motivation in all aspects of my life. It was one of the hardest times of my life, but knowing that I wasn’t the only person going through something like this gave me hope and made me optimistic. Now, I am able to use my experiences to help other and also to help better myself. Everyone has those days where they feel as though the world is against them, but for me it seemed like is was every day. I lacked two very important aspects of life. The first was motivation. Every morning I had to force myself out of bed and after school I always had homework or work that needed to be complete. For a while it felt as though life was some kind of game and I was the player stuck on the same level. Another important aspect of life that I felt was missing was hope. Not only did I stop believing in what life brings such as happiness and love, but I stopped believing in myself. As a little boy I always had this big dream of becoming an astronaut or a race car driver. Having a big dream is common in adolescents, even through their teenage years. Around the age of 12 I lost the drive I had within myself to do something extraordinary in life. I became so focused on getting through each individual day, that I lost sight of what I wanted in life. While I was depressed I lacked interest in life. This caused me to lose interest in friends and social events, leaving me to spend most of my time in my room or alone. I just had to remind myself that there were better days ahead.
Have you ever overcome something that you thought was impossible? I have and it wasn’t easy. Depression affects millions of people everyday and I was one of them. I lacked motivation in all aspects of my life. It was one of the hardest times of my life, but knowing that I wasn’t the only person going through something like this gave me hope and made me optimistic. Now, I am able to use my experiences to help other and also to help better myself.
Everyone has those days where they feel as though the world is against them, but for me it seemed like is was every day. I lacked two very important aspects of life. The first was motivation. Every morning I had to force myself out of bed and after school I always had homework or work that needed to be complete. For a while it felt as though life was some kind of game and I was the player stuck on the same level. Another important aspect of life that I felt was missing was hope. Not only did I stop believing in what life brings such as happiness and love, but I stopped believing in myself. As a little boy I always had this big dream of becoming an astronaut or a race car driver. Having a big dream is common in adolescents, even through their teenage years. Around the age of 12 I lost the drive I had within myself to do something extraordinary in life. I became so focused on getting through each individual day, that I lost sight of what I wanted in life. While I was depressed I lacked interest in life. This caused me to lose interest in friends and social events, leaving me to spend most of my time in my room or alone. I just had to remind myself that there were better days ahead.
My parents were my biggest supporters during this part of my life. I remember my dad always telling me “You could always have a worse day.” Having my parents tell me day in and day out that I’m not the only one going through struggles, helped me a lot because it gave me a sense of security and reassurance that I was not alone. I remember my mom telling me “life isn’t easy and once you hit rock bottom there is only one way to go, and that’s up.” The words my parents told me have stuck with me and will stay with me forever. Counselling helped me learn a lot about myself. It was the first step to me learning to love myself.
Depression is a tough battle to overcome, but I was able to do it and it made me a different person. I have become more independent. I do not mind being alone or working for the things I want. Also, one of the greatest things I learned was how to read people. I know when someone is having a bad day or going through a rough time. I am able to use what I went through to help others with their problems. I am able to reassure them that they aren’t alone and that they are loved. Being able to help others when they are down makes me feel good about myself and gives me confidence. Now when I think of my future, I can see myself going to college and doing something big with my life. I see myself living happily and bringing happiness to others.
Although the years I dealt with depression were extremely hard, I learned a lot. I learned that you are going to have your ups and downs, peaks and valleys, good days and bad days and that is okay. What matters is how you choose to go about the lows and overcome them. I want to push myself to new levels that I never thought I would be able to reach. I want to help those around me better themselves and I want to make everyone who is supporting me proud. I just want to be myself and be the best version of myself I can possibly be. Although I felt as if I would never beat the level of the game called life that I felt trapped in, with the wise words of my parents, I am now moving forward. Depression lost the battle against me.