Intro

Before I begin my chronicle of my life with depression, I'll give you a brief intro to how depression fits into my life.

My form of depression is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. What an appropriate acronym for a form of depression, huh? In a nutshell, this means that I get depressed when there's less sun out. Winter is when depression hits me hardest, but depressed moments also comes when the sun gets lost in the clouds from an extended rain storm.

I have been dealing with (suffering from?) depression for 6 years now. I just finished my 6th winter with SAD. And my mantra, when it comes to my depression, is simply this:

Giving up is never an option.

The day I give up is the day that I've allowed depression to take control of my life. I am not defined by my depression. I merely suffer the effects of it. I've always seen my depression as just another piece of who I am, like a personality trait, or the freckles I still get in the summertime. And so I live day to day with my depression, and I am forever searching for a sense of perspective and a better acceptance of this mental disorder.

Depression is, in simplistic terms, simply a chemical imbalance in the brain. But to all of us who live with it every day, we know it is so much more than that, or at least it feels like that. I find writing about it, talking about it to be very therapeutic. And so I begin this chronicle, as a way for me to gain my own better understanding of my depression.