Depression runs deep. Deeper than most people will ever know. Deeper than those who suffer from it will probably ever know. It’s often misunderstood by those who don’t experience it or don’t have a basic understanding of what depression really is. It’s not a lack of motivation. It’s not a habit of laziness. It’s a sense of entitlement. It’s not any of those things. So what is it? It’s a variance in how their brain functions, It’s a neurochemical cocktail that’s keeping them in those feelings of trappedness, stuckness, or helplessness. It’s not a choice they want to make. It’s not a choice they’re enjoying. It’s not a choice to consciously avoid responsibility. Most of the time, it’s the opposite. Those experiencing depression want to get out of the mental and emotional funk that has plagued their existence for so long. The funk that has robbed them of joy and fulfillment by keeping the colors of perception to a dull gray and low resolution. Most of the time, people experiencing depression know that they’re behaving in ways that are unhelpful and even harmful, but the habit patterns of their brains have been ingrained so deeply that it’ll take years of conscious undoing to even start to scratch the surface of healing. So stop telling people experiencing depression to ‘snap out of it.’ They’re doing the best they can. Instead, be kind.