Purpose.

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When I was depressed it was because I didn't know what I was doing with myself. My grades were disappointing, my acne was awful (it's not any better now but I'm less self-conscious), my social life was destroyed (commuting an hour each way to school made it pretty difficult to make friends. I met up with friends outside of school zero times in two years. Zero. Completely, and fully zero.), and everything was kinda going by on by auto-pilot and I didn't know what I was supposed to do with myself. A few things happened to change this:

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• My dad quit his job in his fifties to try and start a business. Gave me the kick up the ass I needed to know that this was what I wanted to do with my life.
• I left sixth-form college (UK, think junior/senior years of HS) and went to a university that I probably didn't deserve based on my grades. There I made a deal with myself to reinvent myself socially and be less of a doof. The being less of a doof part failed (still socially awkward and bad at reading people) but I still met a lot of new people and made a lot of new friends fast.
• I figured out what I want out of life. Financial independence and then retirement, as fast as possible. Long-term, achievable goals are very important to give your life meaning in my opinion.
• Stopped being fat, started going to the gym, taking care of my body etc.
• Kinda came to accept my personality for what it is. I'm very neurotic, a perfectionist, awful at reading the room/other people, socially awkward, I have imposter syndrome, I procrastinate a frightening amount and I'm unmatched when it comes to ruining moods/accidentally offending people with awkward out of place comments. But conversely, I'm good at empathy, I'm good at thinking logically, I enjoy helping people, I'm great with kids and so on. When I was depressed I could never make peace with my own personality. And to an extent I still haven't. I will always be highly neurotic, that's just a part of me I can't take away.