I don't know whether this is helpful, but it's my experience. A few years ago, I was doing very well in graduate school when I had a bad mental episode that lasted for months. I did everything I could to stay in school, but I was just too sick. At the time, I was devastated.

Yet today I have a job that suits me much better than the career I was studying for would have. My life is more manageable and more enjoyable than it would have been. Now when I have severe depression, I lower my expectations of myself and just do the best I can in the moment. Oddly, the more I accept my limitations, the less they hold me back.