My Battle With Depression: Introduction

The focus of this story is my battle to overcome a state of depression that was very long term and very deep.  As with my story about being bullied, I have chosen to share this story in the hopes that my story may help to motivate some who are caught in a state of depression to be able to believe that they can do what I, and others have done, namely, successfully fight your way out of depression.


I have also chosen to write this story from an emotional perspective, rather than a chronological one.  This is because depression is very much an emotional condition.  I believe those who feel stuck in a state of depression also feel weak.  To fight and crawl out of depression involves a process very much comparable to strengthening weak muscles, for the depressed person must learn to become emotionally strong while also being sure that becoming strong will not turn them into some else’s bully.
Peeling Away at the Layers

For me the battle with overcoming my long-term depression felt like I was slowly peeling away the layers of an onion.  Each new layer that I found the strength to peel away brought on new tears, new realizations as to why I had been weak in that area and what I needed to do to become strong enough to believe that I could handle things like it in the future in a healthier way that you did in the past.

This process of peeling away layers involved me using a series of professional counselors.  I was told at one point that because I had taken the initiative to request each new series of counseling sessions that I was somehow more “self-aware” than the average.  I don’t know if that’s really true, but it felt good to hear it.
Realizing the Need to Peel Away at the Layers

The hardest part of reaching the point where I was ready to admit to myself that I needed to get professional help was getting to the point of actually telling myself that.  For way too many years, both as a youth and as an early adult, I had gotten into the habit of blaming everyone whom I felt had done things to hurt me, just as I had blamed the bullies I grew up with.
Moving around and changing jobs trying to get away from the adults that I felt were mistreating me wasn’t working.  I would move or change jobs so as to be around new people, getting away from the people I felt were causing my problems, only to find that it wasn’t long before I found myself having the same problems around these new people and new job as I had before the move and job change.
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In sharing this part of my life, I am not seeking to promote myself as being better than anyone else.  I am simply seeking to use a part of my life to make the point that I am not better than you, I simply exercise my right to not stay stupid.

You have the ability to make the same decision.  You have the ability to decide that you are going to do whatever it takes to learn how to overcome just one more negative self-defeating behavior, and then another one after that.  It’s your life, take charge of it and learn how to live it so that you do not become someone else’s bully or continue to live as if you are their victim.

David W. Kemper, Author
© Copyright 2014 by David William Kemper.  All right reserved
No part or portion of this publication may be modified in any manner without the express written permission of the author.  Quoting from this publication is allowed on condition that the name of the author and the name of the publication are included.