During my depression journey, I learned a lot about myself and my habits. But most importantly, I noticed the patterns within myself in other people as well. This was a huge thing for me because it made me realize the state of my depression and how to be alert about others who may be struggling.

These patterns were sleeping and eating. As simple as that sounds, your sleeping and eating patterns are very vital in your daily life. When I was at the peak of my depression, I was sleeping all day and barely eating. I would wake up in the afternoon, brush my teeth and say hi to my parents. Then later, I would go back to bed and sleep. I would wake up around nighttime to eat because I hadn't eaten. Then would do any tasks I needed to complete for the day. When I was finished, I would go back to sleep, and it would be the same cycle all over again. In my mind, I thought this was all normal. I thought I loved to sleep a lot. That was until it started affecting my body and health.

Since I was eating once a day, I started to lose weight rapidly. At first, I loved that because I was becoming happier with my body, but soon I noticed I was getting too skinny. Not only was I losing weight, but I was getting weak and sick. My immune system was not working as well as it should, and I constantly got colds. When I decided to leave the house and do something, I would get weak very fast and have to sit down. When this all came to me, I knew something needed to change.

It took a lot to reach out for help because I felt I wasn't ready to change. I had gotten comfortable with my depression. Even though it was hard, I got a therapist and slowly changed my patterns. Doing it slowly is important because you're going through a huge change. Now, I have fully recovered from my depression and have clarity of the patterns that come with it.