The expectation is often that people with depression aspire to be happy.
Not always true.
People with depression often see happy people as more depressed than them.
Why?
Because they see them as running away from reality.
They can often see the darkness behind the smile because they know it’s name.
People with depression need to balance and manage their emotions.
Not mask them.
They don’t always want to talk about their feelings, often those that want to help are the wrong ones to turn to.
Because they haven’t been to those dark places, where ‘no life’ is a better option than ‘life’.
They have to get to a place where they want to develop the skills of emotional intelligence and the only help they really need is someone that can teach those skills so they can do it for themselves.
They don’t need to be happy, just balanced.
You could say that ‘balanced’ is a far deeper form of happiness.
Sometimes we have to re-interpret the meaning of ‘successful’ and for the positivity brigade who seem to think everyone should be wearing their mask – remember not everyone aspires to be like you.