What We Call “Depression” Are Often Poor Choices

“Before you diagnose yourself as depressed, make sure you are not surrounding yourself with people who suck the life out of you.” [a meme on social media]

We have medicalized EVERYTHING. In the process, we forget we make poor choices.

We are not responsible for another’s choices. But we are responsible for the psychological atmosphere we create around us. Friendships and marriages are not coercion. We can end relationships, or at least minimize their influence, when we choose. We don’t have to let things bother us. We don’t have to become the toxic people trying to bring us down. We can refuse to enter or stay in their universe, at least psychologically speaking, and often literally — we can exit their lives.

Most choices are correctable, and many choices are even reversible. That’s the fact you cannot see if you’re too caught up in being a victim. Sometimes we are victims, but it does nothing to remain in that role. All it does is recreate the victimization we owe it to ourselves to move beyond. Seek justice and even retribution when possible, and when it’s truly worth it for you. But never let justice become your all-consuming motive. Otherwise, the whole point of holding others accountable is lost.