Hi Kaysey,

Part of the key for me was getting off of meds that were causing more harm than good. I wouldn't say that's a recommended course for everyone, but my problems really came out of environmental/trauma, and no drugs were going to change that.

I started reading more about depression and anxiety and saw how intertwined my illnesses were and how in therapy we only dealt with a) the trauma and b) coping with the depression. But we never worked on how the anxiety FED the depression. When I started really working on my GAD and learning how to cope with it, my depression started to lift as well.

I will say that it was a combination of me pushing myself and some interesting turns of events in my life that helped me take big steps forward. So, yeah, I would say there was a little serendipity involved. I wouldn't call it luck, because none of those things would have happened if I hadn't been pushing myself, but there was still some good fortune involved. I wonder if those things hadn't happened if other things would have that would have still brought me to this point. I suspect they would have. I'm trying to give myself appropriate credit for working towards recovery.

I think acceptance was also a big key. Realizing that the depression just wasn't going to go away with a med change or by some other miraculous means, and that this is my reality. So accepting it as a factor in my life was one thing, but also maintaining that it is only a ONE FACTOR and not my entire existence. I don't know if that makes any sense.

I did a LOT of self work and pushing myself out of my comfort zone to get here. And now I feel a lot healthier and happier.

Hope that helps.

Seesaw