Depression turns people into ghosts. They can’t get up, they can’t get dressed, maybe on the good days they can drag themselves out of bed and down to the kitchen to make some pancakes or bacon, but then all of a sudden there’s black smoke coming from the griddle and they’re too tired to turn the burner off.
And people who don’t have depression don’t understand that. To them, it’s unfathomable, how an ordinary act like turning the burner off, something that would take two seconds, could be such a complex and difficult task. But if you’re depressed that act could be your whole world; it could be like trying to cross a chasm without a pulley or safety net.
Telling someone that’s depressed to just “snap out of it” is like telling someone that’s drowning to just take deep breaths-they can’t, the water will only get sucked into their lungs and they’ll drown faster. There’s this ridiculous myth that some people spread around that depressed people are lazy and won’t get off their asses and that’s simply not true. In fact, it’s bullshit. It’s not that they won’t, it’s that they can’t.
Some people are so full of dark that it’s like they’re being eaten from the inside out. Even if someone were to light a candle for them it wouldn’t amount to anything. It’d be one tiny star in a sky full of a million others.
Just because someone’s depressed doesn’t mean they’re broken or useless. The best thing you can do for them is be patient. They might want to smash every plate in the cupboard sometimes, and you just have to let them do it, no matter how much that good china costs. Or maybe they’ll want to go out and stare at the moon until their eyes burn. You’ll have to stare with them.
But don’t you dare ever leave them. They’re a human being, just like anyone else, and they’re not lazy and they’re still here. They’re still here and that’s something to be proud of, no matter how small. Every victory counts.