My biggest pet peeve right now

My biggest hurdle right now is wanting to feel like a normal girl ("normal" as in "not having five, comorbid mental disorders"). I'm in college and because of my depression, I've never been in a relationship, I don't go to parties, and I don't hangout with other people. I go to class, I go to work, I eat, and I sleep. End.

This, surprisingly, makes me feel like a complete failure as a college girl. These times are supposed to be the happiest in my life. I'm supposed to be doing dumb, fun things right now. I'm supposed to be making out with random dudes at parties. I'm supposed to be staying up late and eating greasy food with roommates. (Hint: My depression won't let me do any of those things.)

Anyway, when I tell people about these problems, they usually come out with something like, "Well, because you're not getting these things, when you do get them, you'll appreciate them more!" or "At least with depression, you know what true sadness feels like!" or "I'm sorry you feel that way, but you've felt sadness and those other college girls haven't, so you know how to deal with small problems better than they can!" WHAT?

Depression isn't a life lesson. I repeat: Depression. Is. Not. A. Life. Lesson.

There's no logical reason why I have to go through these things while healthy people don't. If depression taught you valuable life lessons, it's kinda wrong that I have to learn them through debilitating sadness and hopelessness while healthy people get to like, vounteer at a soup kitchen or something, no?

Depression teaches me nothing other than how long it takes for me to cry before I start having a tension headache. Depression doesn't make me appreciate anything.

I'm just done with this line of thought. It's called a disorder for a reason.

I live 100% similarly to you. But, I never thought of myself as an abnormal college boy, it's just that I have a condition(s), which makes me different from the other boys and girls, allowing me to dedicate my time to knowledge at home, having more time to do homework, and have more time to be a better student than them. While they, on the other hand, are completely busy being loud, trying to impress one another, and they don't share true friendship with each other, while our kind, you and me, are very selective, and frankly more experienced than them in life. Like you, I have more than one "condition". I have OCD and depression, I have Body Dysmorphic Disorder, as my therapist told me, which is something you also have, I have social phobia, and most likely Asperger's, seeing how I'm very hypersensitive and spend all my time alone, not wanting a soul to approach me, but here I am proud of myself for being different.

Depression is a biological condition, it's not something you can just forget like they ask you to, it is something to be concerned about, but like I said, it also allows you to be more unique, which is what you totally are!!! Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Yeah, people who say things like that are pretty clueless. Has my depression affected my personality/worldview in some ways? Yes. Do I feel lucky that I was gifted with this "life lesson?" Certainly not.

A cancer patient may learn empathy or how to cope during tough times because they had cancer. But not many people would say they were fortunate.