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Ljones, look what a significant force depression can be. In your case, someone who has never even experienced depression can still sense its tremendous power, not only as a negative phenomenon, but in being able to yield something positive--like a new perspective on life. For me, entering a deep depression is like suffering a "mini-death", in that you see your happiness, general interest in things and ability to otherwise perform or take part in certain everyday activities, separate from you and fall away. You leave them behind, or in some ways, they leave you behind. In experiencing a depression's "mini-death", the best thing to do is to do it like you were living: To observe, to let yourself feel, and no matter how difficult, to deal with the discomfort, and take in and accept how the world and your place in it, might be appearing to you at that time (frightening, empty, uncertain, etc.). When the depressive episode is over and the rain clouds clear, one of the most potent perspectives to gain, is to realize how that "mini-death" (and suffering) was really just one more part of this experience we call "life". There is a certain amount of maturing that takes place, no matter how old we are...
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