My perception of happiness has changed. An old woman I worked for once told me, “the impossible just takes a little bit longer,” and I hold onto that pretty tightly. I believe a lot of people just naturally enjoy life, but we’re also built to adapt when we experience a change in world view. I honestly believe loving and being loved is the closest thing to happiness one can get. I’m very lucky to have learned that so early, however hard that process was.

i think the biggest thing that ruins the perception of happiness is when people who don't deal with long-term, persistent depression try to tell you how to manage it. "just exercise! eat better! go outside!" they completely misunderstand the burden of long-term depression and it makes it feel like people who deal with it will never achieve something that's supposedly easybto obtain.

Yea. Over the years I feel like I have to barter with my brain to make it think the things that make me happy are ok and if I've been ok for to long all I can think about is what's going to go wrong now and how bad it's going to be. Like I have to pay to have any happiness at all. It's become less of a feeling that just happens and more of something I'm almost afraid of.