There's a pretty common misconception in today's society that depression isn't real unless it's having a visible affect on your life. If you still manage to get out of bed on a regular basis and get dressed and live your life, then a lot of people won't believe you when you tell them you have depression. If you can still manage to laugh and smile then people will accuse you of exaggerating your own mental state into something that it's not.

However, depression has many forms and affects each person very differently. Obviously, I can only speak to my own personal experiences with depression but what I can tell you from those experiences is that more often than not it's not visible. Even when you feel like you're drowning in the weight of your depression it can be hard for other people to detect.

So what does my depression look like?

My depression looks like not being able to wake up more than thirty minutes before class because my body won't drag itself out of bed. My depression looks like locking myself in my room for hours at a time because I can't stand to be around people. My depression looks like bursting into tears over minor problems because to me they feel gigantic. My depression is forcing myself to go to class even though I can't think because I know that telling my teacher that I'm too depressed won't be seen as a valid excuse.

My depression doesn't affect me every day. It pops up when it wants to and it's my job to figure out how to keep living my life despite the crushing weight of depression pressing down on me. Even when I'm having a bad day with my depression I can still manage to laugh. I still can find joy because I know that the sadness is my depression talking, but I still can't shut it up. My depression looks like telling myself over and over and over again that depression is a disease and that it's my depression talking and not me. My depression looks like spending my free time arguing with myself because while my depression is a part of me, it doesn't like to listen to the rest of me.

So the next time someone tells you that they have depression please understand that not all depression and not all illness is visible to the eye. Please understand that no one would choose to be depressed. Please understand that questioning someone's depression only makes that person feel worse. Please, take their word for it and offer your support.