Letter to the depressed

What can I say to you? What can I say when you are feeling down? What can I say that is not a lie, but which will not depress you further?

I know that you do not want to hear that things will be okay. How would I know that, anyway? You don't want me to tell you that things could be worse, or that some other people have it worse. That would be trivializing your pain. You don't want me to tell you that I know how you feel. How could I?

I guess what I can say is that this is not your fault. And that you are not alone. That this could have happened to anyone in the world, and there are other people in the world who have this kind of problem, even if they are few and far between. That I am lucky that it did not happen to me, for I would not know what to do if I were in your place. That I understand that it is a bad situation to be in, even though I cannot know how it really feels like.

And I guess I can say that this shall pass. Who knows whether what comes next will be better or worse. We hope it will be better. Who knows how long it will take for sorrow to pass. But it will, although we have no way of knowing what will replace it. Or what will dilute it, perhaps, for it will not disappear overnight.

And allowing it time to pass, even though not the most comforting of ideas, is something you can do. Sometimes maybe the only thing.

And I am here for you, if you need me. You just have to ask, for I do not want to intrude.