If Michelle Obama deals with low-grade depression, considering her successful life, then someone like me, with lifelong severe & mostly untreated-till-recently depression, should be considered a success just getting out of bed at least once a day, let alone holding down a job. And somehow I don't feel like such an abject failure at life, even though the implication may be that maybe I should because even she can get depressed but can also get over it…
I sure didn't have the right "tools" to overcome depression or to live like a normal person most my life. I still can't live like a normal person. At least I am working. And I'm less depressed most of the time on Venlafaxine. Nothing else ever really worked well on me till I tried this. And I'm not 100% out of the woods there either. But most days, I'm better than I was before I started taking an antidepressant.
At a matter of fact, ironically, it was this horrible war in Ukraine, or more accurately the brave people of Ukraine, starting with their president's defiance, that inspired me to try meds again & then to get a job again, after 6 years unable to handle even the idea of working.
@Astartiel that's awesome fella!!!