Imagine you're in a brightly-lit room. In the center of that room is a pit, narrow and shallow. Day after day, you walk around the room, staying as far from the pit as you can. Then, one day, you wander too close and are pushed in. Sometime, you see what pushed you in. Sometimes you don't realize until after what pushed you in. And sometimes, you never find out at all.

It is a problem, for sure, however, all is not lost, for the pit only comes up to your waist and you can use both sides of the pit to pull yourself out.

Then you're pushed into the pit again. And again. And again. And each time, the pit gets deeper and wider.

One day, you are pushed into the pit to find it is now deeper than you are tall and wider than you can stretch yourself. What to do? You try your best to get out on your own; maybe, if you're lucky enough, you have the energy to jump and grab the edge to pull yourself out. For others, they cry for help. Fortunately, the pit is shallow enough for someone to hear your cries, and they help pull you out of the pit. But it gets wider and deeper, and you know it.

You try your hardest to stay away from the pit, and others may help you. For some, they are able to stay away from the pit; the knowledge you may fall in is always there, but you manage to stay away from the pit itself. For others, they fall into the pit less now. But with each day that passes, it gets deeper and wider.

You fall into the pit again. By this time, you don't know what pushed you, and you don't care. You look up and see a tiny dot of brightness to contrast the darkness that has completely enveloped you. You realize it is futile to scream for help, and you know in your heart that at the bottom of the pit, you are truly and utterly alone.

All you can do is lie down and wait. And wait. And wait. Wait for help. Sometimes, help comes.

Sometimes it doesn't. You must help yourself. How does one escape a pit so deep and so wide, you can't climb out?

You end it all.

This is what depression feels like, day to day, month to month, year to year. You aren't alone, and there is help available, friends. Don't give up, and do your best to see the light, no matter how deep the pit may be.