My Little Book of Hope

This is my little hope book. It reminds me I've gone through the tunnel of depression and come out enlightened to who I am today. I'm no longer a depressed person. I am a person living with depression. There is a difference between them. What separates the two? Knowledge. That's what this little book of hope reminds me. Bits of knowledge I need to help me keep walking straight on that narrow edge of darkness. I no longer identify myself by my illness. I identify myself as a person who has to cope daily with this very real illness. Once depression consumed me, I had no identity, no hope, no dreams. Today, with the support of my medications and the help I received from my doctor, I can separate who I am now from the hopelessness of depression.