Healing doesn't happen overnight, it takes time. Maybe some people do eventually beat depression and be rid of it, but I believe that some do not, some go through therapy to be aware and learn to cope with it. Laying down defences that you built over years can't be a once-off thing, it might take years, but I believe with all my heart that it's possible. I'm still on my journey of healing, some days are better than others, some are worse. There are times when I feel like I'm on top of the world and I can conquer anything or I can even climb Mount Everest, then there are times where I feel like a sinking ship, where I feel like going away from everything and everyone.
One would wonder why I still feel this way after therapy and antidepressants. Well, I believe that antidepressants do not cure depression or anxiety, they just help to calm your mind down so you can be able to deal with whatever is going on. Therapy is also not a quick fix, it just helps to point you in the right direction, it assists in processing and putting things into perspective, it helps in bringing awareness so you can deal with something you know instead of fighting with demons you don't even know. Therapy helped me in connecting the dots, but I still had a lot of work to do. The journey of healing is a long one and it requires patience and grace.
I might not be there yet, but I'm surely in a much better space than I was before. I'm grateful to God for church family and friends. One of the things I realised was how much I needed people in my life, anxiety, and depression told me to stay away from them because they are mean and they hurt other people. Healing has shown me how they can be a source of support and hope. One can never deal with anxiety and depression by themselves, it takes family, it takes friends and community. No one wakes up and ask for a messed up life, we don't ask for the bad things that happen to us, we never asked for those bad childhood experiences, we did not get to decide, we were not given a choice, we definitely would have chosen otherwise. However, we are asking for a little kindness, just a bit of love and support. We want to heal, we want to get better, we are trying so hard but it takes too long. We are asking for a bit of understanding, we are asking for just a bit of patience.