My name is Brittany. "Winterbritt" is the nickname I gave the depressed version of me. It's also the name I gave my blog where I'm putting together my ideas publicly for anyone it could help.

Every single day I write a note from myself to "Winterbritt". I remind her of all the things that I know now that I wish she'd known then, just in case I ever feel depressed again. I write them on pages in a notebook and when I'm finished I fold it in half and tape it together and label it to open and read at a later date. Today's 9/26, so my note will be taped up and opened on 2/26/18.

So many of the things I write to myself, I wish I could share with you all. I understand what depression feels like. I also understand that you can't see what you can't see yet, so I try not to overstep when commenting on other people's posts.

I know depression made me super defensive and sensitive, and I took everything personal and everything hurt my feelings. But now that I worked through the depression, it just hurts my heart to see people suffering and I truly want to be the shoulder that I needed when I was in the same place.

"Understanding" and commiseration just validated my feelings, the feelings I didn't want to have anymore. I needed someone to smack me upside my sad face with some hope and some truth. I found it in some great books and in a life coach.

So I decided to start writing my own threads with my thoughts, and let whoever reads them read them, and hopefully I can help someone else too while I'm in the process of understanding it all and letting my heart open up.

So here is just the plain old truth. No insensitivity. No invalidation. Just the truth. Just GOOD NEWS. From me to you.

Today I just want to say that depression isn't forever. I see a lot of people say that it will never go away. And if you really believe in your heart that it won't, it can't. Your beliefs control you. They control your mind and your life. Just consider that you're wrong about depression being forever. Just consider the possibility that you can't KNOW if depression is forever or not. It could be gone when you wake up tomorrow. But if you wake up tomorrow believing you're a depressed person forever, you won't even be open to noticing if you feel better.