Depression has been a part of my life since I was 12, and sometimes I think I've heard every depression myth in the book. Unfortunately, a lot of depression myths are prevalent because they are perpetuated in media and sometimes even affect our loved ones. Learning to tune out myths about depression helped me understand myself more.

Celebrity suicides hit us harder than we think they do. Around 9:00 p.m. on July 20th, I logged onto Facebook and saw status updates about celebrity suicide with the words “Linkin Park”, “suicide”, and “RIP, Chester.” Suddenly, my body froze. The dark lyrics from Linkin Park’s most popular songs flooded my head. Celebrity suicides affect us more than you might think.

Many women think that the price of beauty confidence costs a lot. They think that by spending more money on makeup and clothes, they will feel better about themselves. While I agree that spending money can help and we should always take good self-care and occasionally treat ourselves, some people (myself, included) spend an unnecessary amount of money on our appearance when we could use that cash for other pleasures and necessities. Beauty confidence is so much more than how you look.

It's hard to find love, and dating with depression feels impossible sometimes. Dating with depression comes with unique struggles in addition to the usual ones. I've struggled with identifying bad relationships, asking the right questions, and so much more (Depression Makes Social Interaction Stressful). Thankfully, recent realizations have provided relief, so I'm hopeful that dating with depression will improve.

Laziness and depression can look almost alike, but they're very different states of being. For example, every once in awhile, you will have a lazy day. After you come home from work, you might neglect doing laundry and crawl into bed instead. Maybe you’ll turn on Netflix, have a snack, and fall asleep. It feels nice, right? We all need the rest. But what does it mean when one or two lazy days turns into a few lazy weeks? Is it laziness or depression?

I've discovered that there is a strong correlation between my depression and anxiety and my physical confidence. It's about more than loving the way I look. It's about loving how strong I've become. I've taken steps to increase my physical confidence, which helps me feel so much better when things start to feel rough.

This year, as I stared at the candles on my birthday cake, I could not take my eyes off of the second digit that said I was getting older—seven. Wow, I thought. Twenty-seven. What Should I Have Done Already?. It amazes me how fast one birthday turns into the next. Twenty is so far away, and 30 is right around the corner.I'm getting old and I'm not where I thought I'd be.

One of the hardest parts of my work as a writer is not necessarily self-discipline or being inspired, but rather finding ways to use my creativity while depression zaps my motivation. Over time, depression feels as if it is sucking the creativity out of me, and being creative with depression coping becomes a work of art on its own.

Have you ever needed to stop yourself from giving up? I wanted to give up pursuing passions because I experienced several disappointments. I found myself wanting to give up many times, especially during (and shortly after) my college years. Here are some ways that I used thoughts and actions to stop myself from giving up.

I have had people I love dismiss my depression with, "Why can't you just be happy?" There is still social stigma attached to depression, and even the people who care about us can be affected by it. I try to label the emotions that arise after somebody says something like this to me, and it makes me realize why hearing, "Just be happy." can be so frustrating. I don't feel good when people dismiss my depression and this is why.