I am having one of those days where my depression is so impenetrable that I can't believe I'm able to sit upright. It feels like the force of my traumatic past is colliding with a bleak future that promises nothing but the same amount of pain. Yet here I am, sitting at my laptop, writing. How is this possible?

Last month, I struggled with a depression relapse. During one of my therapy sessions, my therapist reminded me that I am resilient. Depressed at the time, I didn’t feel very resilient, but the comment stayed with me. It started me wondering what the relationship is between depression and resilience and how we can increase resilience.

It's exceptionally hard to celebrate when you have depression. I just turned 30 this week and I'm proud to have survived my birthday because I was so scared up until its arrival. As it turned out, it was easier than ever for me to celebrate my birthday this year because I figured out the secret to surviving my birthday (or any holiday) with depression.

When I sat down to write my blog this week, what came to mind is that I’ve been having trouble mood-wise lately – depressed mood, low energy, anxiety – and how this seems to go against what we commonly associate with the beginning of a new year. But I have to live life, even when I'm depressed.

My depression is making me feel numb about New Year's. I actually went to bed at 10:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, an hour before my usual bedtime. When hundreds of thousands of households partied and cheered to welcome 2015, when the clock struck 12:00 a.m., I was sound asleep.

Depression makes the holiday season especially difficult, especially when there's so much pressure to be happy. Cheesy music blasts through store speakers, telling us that it's the "most wonderful time of the year" when depression rarely takes a day off, no matter what the calendar says.

Thanksgiving is upon us today in the United States and, with it, a call to express gratitude for all that we have. This got me thinking about the relationship between gratitude and depression. Can expressing gratitude help depression?

Recently I found out that my work duties have been cut back significantly, leaving me feeling lost and also looking for new work. Job loss can be a significant trigger for depression. This has led me to seek out coping skills to deal with this new reality in my life.

One of depression's main symptoms is feeling alone, like no one in the world could possibly understand your situation, your pain, or your experience. You feel cut off from other people, like there's a glass wall between you and the rest of the world. The feeling of being alone can can make you want to isolate yourself from friends, family, and other people who care about us. Isolation feeds depression.

Lately, I have found myself with some extra free time on my hands. Which isn’t a bad thing, except for the fact that when I have free time I tend to ruminate, and when I tend to ruminate, depressive thoughts and symptoms often come up. This left me searching out new ways to deal with my depression symptoms and discovering writing as an outlet.