When moderate to extreme depression bouts strike I find myself existing on two levels. A personal, despairing overwhelming level and a sensible, face-the-world-pretend -I’m-OK level. This is how I find myself this week but am determined to ride it out and regain some equilibrium in due course.

Gone are the days when I panic thinking that this is the apocalypse and there is no future hope of happiness. From experience I know that this mood will lift and I will  find contentment and balance when I’m ready. It may be a while but I have to keep the faith. It’s a hard lesson to learn and I wish I could reassure others perhaps going through this experience for the first time that it will get better. But depression is an individual experience and it would be wrong of me to offer such hope without concrete foundation.

Keep the faith. Retain hope. Stay strong. Believe in recovery and be kind to yourself.