So you know how having a mental health condition like depression, or at least the symptoms of it, can come to be a defining characteristic of your personal identity? And this results in the dilemma of whether to wear your “illness” with pride, letting your neurodivergence flag fly, or to strive to conform and mask your way into normalcy? Or some combination.

That’s really a debate that everyone has to have for themselves, because it not only depends on what your internal motivation is, but also what response you might encounter from your environment. Questions can arise when weighing how expressive to be like: Is it safe? Do you want to be the same as others or different from them? Do you think there is something wrong with you? Do you think there is something better about you that makes you superior to other people?

And when the answer seems obvious to you, whatever that answer is, just recall that you live with how you represent yourself in the moment, and you also live with that representation throughout time. Make sure you have the stamina for whatever you decide.

Contemporarily, or as of February 2025, depression is often discussed as a mental illness and in American society, and perhaps other parts of the world, there is a great emphasis placed on becoming less depressed as though it is the cause of undue misery for individuals who have the condition, and sometimes those around them. However, this is only one perspective, and it sometimes is incomplete because the possible “positive effects of depression” are being overlooked, like an increase in creative potential.

With so much emphasis on seeing misery as a burden, it can sometimes be a challenge to celebrate depression, in fact the idea is sometimes too controversial to be taken seriously. And maybe that’s okay because maybe the goal to typically reduce symptoms is better for “sick” individuals and those who know them. And yet this is the decision a depressed person gets to make for themselves, even if attention to the surrounding environment is often required.

So there’s no answer here on how to define yourself with your condition in mind. There’s food for thought, and with that mind nourishment, you can continue to craft your own personal identity.

*Mind-Controlled*