imperatorkhaleesi:

alexandrareadsthings:

altonzm:

tbh in general there’s a lot of writing about depression which talks about recovery as a form of reclamation, like there’s this ur-personality that exists inside you that thru the power of kale/this $14.99 audiobook you’ll rediscover

I think for those of us who’ve suffered traumatic events or abuse in childhood, that can be pretty alienating bc there is no golden ‘before’ period to reclaim, but even more than that I dont think it’s apt for anyone with depression

if there is such a thing as genuine recovery, then that process by necessity renders you an entirely different person from who you were before, w a knowledge of sadness you didn’t have previously. nobody reclaims what they were before depression, if indeed there was a before

I think focusing on reclamation is a mistake and makes people feel like failures for not being some mythical version of themselves. the focus should be on building something new & syncretic, not fruitlessly attempting to wipe yourself clean of experiences that are fundamentally indelible

there is no golden ‘before’ 

I’m gonna cry because no one ever gets that, thank you for giving me more apt words to describe what that means rather than just telling someone “I don’t remember before anymore” because they insist there’s a golden period to reclaim and will accept that I don’t remember it easier than they’ll accept that there was never was one 

This is so good. Thank you for this.