Depression is more than just sadness.
It’s the dull pressure on your chest first thing in the morning.
The disinterest in activities you once valued.
The feeling that you’re here, but not quite here.

At times, it resembles checking out.
Other times, it seems as though one’s navigating life from within a deep fog.
Still other times, it looks like being furious at oneself for not being able to simply “snap out of it.”

You might consider it a defect in your brain chemistry.
You may have even been advised that it runs in families.
Though the first explanation’s questionable, and there’s some truth to the second, they usually ignore one of the most important ones—what happened to you as a child.

Depression as a Reaction to Childhood Conditions

You undoubtedly learned early on to close off portions of yourself if you grew up in a house where feelings weren’t welcomed—or worse, where they were punished.

Perhaps you were expected to be the “easy” kid.
The one who didn’t make waves.
Perhaps you were criticized for being too needy, too sensitive, too emotional.
Perhaps you were entirely ignored—left to manage your inner world alone.

Your system changed with time.
Not because you were weak.
But because you were attempting to live in a home that lacked the ability to meet your needs.

You learned to be silent.
To vanish within yourself.
To numb the emotions that felt unsafe to express.

What about that withdrawal? That closing down?
Often, that’s what we refer to as depression.
It’s not a personal failure.
Not a character flaw.
It’s simply a long-term response to an environment that didn’t know how to embrace and support you.

Daoist Medicine’s Understanding of It

Daoist healing does not classify depression as a condition.
It’s viewed it as a symptom of something essential within us not flowing as it should.

Occasionally, particularly in the Liver, which controls the seamless flow of emotion, qi becomes stagnant, or blocked.
At other times, the Spleen is undernourished, which makes you lethargic, heavy, and uninspired.
There may be too much yin and not enough yang—too much stillness and not enough flame.
Alternatively, there might be a more profound misalignment between the Heart and Kidneys that manifests as feelings of separation, hopelessness, or spiritual exhaustion.

The point is, in this system there is no single definition of depression.
The only question is: Where is the energy not flowing?
What became cut off, depleted, or blocked along the way?
And what small things could facilitate its restoration?

Starting to Shift

A 10-step strategy is not required.
You don’t have to force anything.
Start where you are, with anything that reminds your system it’s fine to come back online.

That could involve gently moving your body. Not for exercise or achievement, but to softly awaken the energy that’s been frozen.
That could involve relaxing in the sun, bathing your feet, and drinking a cup of soup to warm yourself. Warmth helps yang, and yang is what lifts you up when you’re feeling low.

It could be something simple yet significant. Lighting a candle. Writing your truth through journaling. Cooking a real meal.
Not to prove anything. Simply to connect.

It could also involve asking yourself—gently—when you first began to feel as though you had to vanish, to disappear.
Not to blame, to hold anyone responsible.
But simply to start grasping what shaped your patterns.

This Isn’t Your Fault

You did not select this.
You didn’t make it up.
You adapted to the situation you were given.

But now you get to make choices with those patterns.
You get to question what aspects of you still think remaining numb is safer than feeling.
You get to gradually welcome those aspects back into the light—at your own pace.

Sometimes, that’s what recovery looks like.
No theatrical breakthroughs.
Simply little moments of presence.
A bit more warmth.
A little more awareness.
When the old pattern is to disconnect, just a little extra encouragement to stay with yourself.

And every time you do?
That’s not only a victory.
That’s you changing the narrative, rewriting the story.