I made this Image with Words (which is what I call my fancy memes) and wrote this post at the request of a client. I spoke these words in a recent session, and they said it was extremely powerful.

Let me share with you my own experiences with Depression.

I suffer from bouts of Major Depression, I don’t have Depression all the time, it comes and goes. I rarely ever feel “sad” or “depressed”, which makes it difficult to recognize the encroaching bout of Depression.

Usually, my bouts of Depression start as brain fog, and I have difficulty doing simple unpleasant tasks such as paying bills or making phone calls. After a few days, my sleep will become disrupted, which makes the brain fog worse. Soon, I have difficulty getting up and initiating tasks, even things that I really enjoy. If it gets really bad, then I’ll feel like I’m in what I call a “netherworld of being not fully awake nor fully asleep.”

As I start my downward slide, I feel like, “What’s wrong with me?”  There can be some judgment there. “I SHOULD have energy. I SHOULD be able to do the things I need to do, and WANT to do.”

Then I’ll take inventory of my symptoms and I realize, “I have Depression! Yay! I know how to deal with this!”

For me, recognizing that I have Depression is a happy thought, because now I can act on it and start my recovery.

“What’s wrong with me?” is a scary thought because the answer is unknown. But KNOWING what’s wrong with me means I can start working the problem.

As a Life Coach I don’t have the tools to coach people THROUGH Depression, that’s the role of therapy, but I have clients who have processed their Depression with therapists and are ready to go from functional to optimal which is the role of coaching. I also have clients with ADHD and this is where finding the right tools can really help take people from functional to optimal.

Your diagnosis is not a judgment, you’re not a bad person for having this diagnosis. Also, your diagnosis is not an excuse, you don’t have to be stuck. Your diagnosis is information to help in becoming your favorite version of you.