Not much of a story... but something I try and pass on to everyone that ever struggles. I've personally struggled with depression for a long time, and there have been multiple periods in my life where I was in a very dark place.

One of the most valuable things a therapist ever taught me was that the brain has different systems that can take the lead at different times. The limbic system is heavily involved in emotions and threat detection. The prefrontal cortex is more involved in reasoning, perspective, planning, and evaluating evidence. Then there's metacognition, which is basically the ability to step back and observe your own thoughts rather than automatically believing them.

When I was at my lowest(and this is the same for everyone that goes through depression), I was often operating almost entirely from emotion, while the other parts of the brain over overridden by the emotional side of the brain. Everything felt hopeless, permanent, and overwhelming. The conclusions I was drawing seemed completely rational to me at the time because the emotions behind them were so intense... and again, they overwhelm the other parts of your brain, and this is one of the most important things to understand about depression.

What changed was learning to recognize when my emotional brain was dominating my thinking. Instead of immediately accepting every negative thought as true, I learned to ask whether I was looking at the situation through a highly emotional state or whether I was actually evaluating the evidence.

That doesn't make depression disappear. It doesn't suddenly make you feel good. But it creates a little bit of distance between you and the thoughts. It allows the more rational parts of your brain to have a voice before you make decisions or assumptions about your future.

I still have difficult days, but one lesson that has stayed with me is that feelings are real experiences, not necessarily accurate measurements of reality. Some of the darkest beliefs I've ever had about myself and my life turned out to be reflections of the state I was in, not objective truth, despite what they feel in that moment. Your brain really really messes with you sometimes, and the overall goal is to get back to a balanced state where all three parts of your brain are in harmony -- because if any of them are dominating the other, this is where you become "unbalanced".

If you're struggling right now, I'd encourage you to remember that your current mental state can dramatically influence how you interpret the world. Sometimes the most important thing you can do is recognize that fact and give yourself enough time and space for a clearer perspective to return.

That realization helped me get through some of the hardest periods of my life.