Depression is one of those words that is usually seen in two lights. In one light, it is a word that is thrown around by people when feeling frustrations. In your day to day life, take notice of how many times you hear “oh, I am so depressed.” You will hear it from many, but those you won’t hear it from are the ones who truly are. You don’t hear it from the ones who are waging war with their mind, with their emotions, and with their life silently and in pain. In the other light, it is seen as a weakness. Seen as something that people just need to get over, and stop complaining.

After my diagnosis with depression, this was a shame I felt. Due to the way that I have come to familiarize myself with depression before the unthinkable of having it myself, I saw myself as weak, and that those around me would see me as weak as well. Coming out the other side, I have found that those of us with depression are in fact the strongest of people. We are the fighters.

So let us put a different spin on depression. Let us see it for the strength that those who deal with it day in and day out possess.

For starters be proud of yourself every day, because every day you are doing something, even if just a small part, to beat your depression. Just getting out of bed in the morning, when everything inside is telling you to stay swaddled within the comforting grasp of your bed, because facing the day and the pain you carry around on your back like a ton of bricks won’t be worth the effort it will take to do it. Just stay in bed, you tell yourself. Well, recognize it or not, the second you choose to put your feet to the floor and stretch your arms up to the sky and start moving, you are one day closer to the stronger version of yourself your depression is going to make of you.

When every day is a fight, the strength to keep fighting is an immense feat. So, do you think you are weak? Think again. That smile you put on your face in times when tears and cries are all you can feel is strength. Helping those around you who are struggling when you yourself are drowning in your own well of emotion is a sign of your strength. It proves that you are strong enough to not only carry your pains, but help someone whom you love carry theirs.

The tears you shed and the cries let out do not make you weak. It proves that you have the strength to acknowledge your own pain, and to let those around you see the pain you are holding onto with all of your being. It shows that you are willing to be vulnerable, and let people in to the side of yourself that many on the outside will never know about. Being able to trust people to be willing to help you carry around the weight that is your depression is scary, but once the right people find their way in, you don’t feel so alone, and you don’t feel as heavy.

Depression doesn’t define you. It’s going to fight you, but fight it right back. The harder the fight you give, the more you gain in return. I wouldn’t be the person I am without my depression, and for that I am grateful. While it was the worst time of my life, and there were times when I didn’t even want this life anymore, on the other side there is no other life I would want, and no other person I would rather be than myself.

So the next time you hear the word depression, or speak to someone about depression, take it for what it is. A fight by the strongest among us.