Dear Depression,

We’ve known each other for a long time. We have been hanging out together for as long as I can remember, but I think it’s time I say goodbye…forever. I’m serious, dude. You’ve been cramping my style for way too long now. I’ll tell you why.

All you do is put me down. You make me feel like I’m worthless and like no one loves me. You try to convince me that I’m messing everything up all the time. If it wasn’t for you my self-esteem would be so much better. Every one of my friends and family tell me I’m great, yet I fail to believe them because I let you convince me they’re wrong. For some reason I only believe you, Depression, and not all of the voices of the people who want to see me happy.

Whenever I try to get up and do something productive and fun, you tell me to go back to bed. You tell me to just sleep life away. When I finally do get up you try to convince me to just sit around and hate myself. Don’t work. Don’t exercise. Don’t Play. Just self loathe. That’s all you want me to do.  I mean, how come we can never go out and have some fun? You really are such a downer.

Even worse is that you try to do stuff like this to people I care about, too. If you want to make me miserable, go ahead and do your worst, but don’t you dare try it with my family and friends. My Mother has enough stress with work and raising my family. My brother has enough trouble with the bullying at school and his grades. My best friend is overworked and never hast time for himself. My girlfriend has social anxiety, but tries anyway for me. They all have their own troubles and problems they have to work through, but you still try to put more weight on their shoulders. I love these people with all my heart. Why would you go exploiting their pain, especially when I care about them so much?

So the evidence is there. Depression, I’m sorry, but you are a terrible friend. I don’t want to ever see you again after what you’ve put me through. We should just be apart. If you try to visit and convince me to let you in again, trust me, I will not be letting you stay for long. Plus, I’ve got some new friends now. I don’t know if you have ever met them. Their names are Hope, Love, and Self-Confidence. They’ve been nothing, but supportive of me and my dreams. 

Goodbye, Depression. Don’t keep in touch. 

Sincerely,

Ready To Live

Dear Depression,

I always have many questions about you because I can’t understand how you work. You’ve taken over the most important person in my life and I hate you for it every day. You invade her world in a matter of minutes and completely shut me out. All of my kind words and encouragement are blocked by the wall you put up around her. Then frustration sets in… not at her, but at you! How can you have such a grip on her that it takes me hours to break through your walls and yet you break through the barriers I build almost instantly? Why do you have so much power? No matter how many times I beat you back, your strength doesn’t seem to waver.

After all this time, I thought I’d have your game plan down. You only break into her mind in so many different ways, but why doesn’t it get easier to reinvade? Sometimes you take over her mind so powerfully that when I try to fight back, you start making me upset; but I can’t let you control me too. It just hurts inside to know that you still hold onto her even when I’m trying my best to make you leave. Are you trying to tell me that I’m not good enough or that I’m not allowed to have her?

Back off! She is mine and I despise you for the way you treat her. She is mine and I despise you for the way you make her think. She is mine and I despise you for the way you make her hurt. She is mine and I despise you for the things you make her say. She is mine and I despise you for still being a part of her life. She is mine and I despise you because you make her think it’s all her fault. She is mine and I want her all to myself. She is mine, so get away…but I know that’s not going to happen because you don’t want to leave. You never want to leave and you’ll always be there, waiting to take over. Well, I have news for you. I love her more than anything in this world and I can guarantee you that I’ll always be by her side to fight you and give her the life she deserves.

Sincerely, 

This Guy

We had asked the current Cadets to participate in an activity. In this activity, the Cadets were directed to personify the depression they have experienced in their life (whether through themselves, a family member, or a friend) and to express their feelings toward depression in a letter. This letter had no word limit and no content limit; it is raw and meant to have likeness to each Cadet’s feelings and problems.

Results from these letters have only been positive. Allowing people to talk to themselves in this manner allows the individual to perceive depression, not as part of them, but as an entirely separate entity.

The letters written by the Cadets will be posted shortly.

The war against depression is a very controversial topic because the general public does not have the slightest clue what depression actually is. Many people in the world today are not educated enough on the matter of this mood disorder. In fact, due to this lack of education, many of those individuals who are “depressed” have not been prevented from taking the next step, harming themselves, and turning what was once considered a mood disorder into a mental disorder. I could talk about terms like these for the rest of this blog post, but technicalities are not my main concern.

I voice my true concern to you; not as an individual looking on those around me who categorize as being depressed, but as a depressed individual myself.

What concerns me most is how the depressed people are being treated: like lepers. Infomercials litter the television about what medications can be taken as method to blanket over the actual problem. Psychiatrists and psychologists are assigned to those showing lackluster performance and signs of mental and physical fatigue. There are programs circulating the schools of our children, attempting to inform them of the signs following these depressed individuals while using overly-generalized terms such as “suicidal” or “frequently bullied” to describe them. But, the issue I see in all of these methods is that they are trying to generalize the depressed public. In reality, depression is not one issue; it is as varied and numerous as the colors of the rainbow.

Because of this wide area of issues branching off from what is simply known as depression, individuals and companies around the world have attempted to cover as many areas as possible. Though a kind idea in theory to focus on one particular thing, what happens to those who create new branches of depression that were, until this point, unheard of?

The solution is simply not to have a solution. The name of our group is “The Space Cadets”. We are a non-profit organization devoted to revolutionizing the war against depression. By providing various methods of creative thinking, problem solving, and education, The Space Cadets promote individuality, creativity, and self-respect in those affected by depression for the purpose of helping them learn to spread their wings and let their imagination soar. We don’t need to win the war, we just need to change how we see it. The goal of this group’s future is to be spread across the internet world wide, helping those suffering from bouts of depression to use their imagination and see the world from an enhanced point of view. This will be accomplished in the years ahead by establishing social networks now; social networks that provide experiences, stories, facts, words of wisdom, and support to all those who so desperately need to smile again.

We will not tell you depression is wrong. It’s not. Depression changed my life to the point where I believe my writing skills, point of view, and spiritualism solely rely on it. I am against modern methods of anti-depressants because I believe that it will change who I have become. However, feelings such as self-loathing and hopelessness are horrifying side effects that are included in my way of life because of my depression. To rid myself of this fear my mood disorder brings, I know that a social network devoted to opening my mind will not only take some of the weight off my shoulders, but also enhance my creativity and turn my realist points of view into idealistic ones.

By utilizing the imaginations of thousands of people world-wide, we can completely revolutionize the way humans of this generation and those after us will view depression. Depression is not a disease, depression is not an illness, depression is not a choice; it is a way of life. Depression is an orb of genetics and life experiences that attaches to your soul and takes over who you are. It tries to control you. In retaliation, you are supposed to fight against depression and attempt in taking control of yourself again. However, I see no reason why myself and my depression cannot coexist.

The Space Cadets will soon grow and spread across the continents. Starting with two people and an idea, we now have over 60 Cadets across the United States standing for, what we believe, is the correct way to address depression. We do not need an end, we do not need a solution, we need change. Become a Space Cadet now and take up our cause of creating a revolution in this war we are all fighting.

You can become a Cadet via one or more of these social networks:

Blogspot: http://thespacecadets.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Space-Cadets

Tumblr: http://thespacecadets.tumblr.com

Or email us at: TheSpaceCadets.Mail@gmail.com

As always, stay in the clouds, Cadets…