So... I was feeling like shit and wrote this last night

Depression. It is the force that slowly consumes you, starting as a whisper that barely surfaces. It's easy to ignore at first, writing it off as a "bad day" or "teenage insecurities." It's strategic; invades your being so slowly that, by the time it becomes bothersome and a problem, you're used to it. You get used to the feeling of waking up tired, to the feeling of inadequacy, to the permeating numbness. It all becomes familiar, and you hold onto it because, in a world that is ever-changing, the feelings are a welcome constant.
The longer you live with depression, the harder it is to remember a time when life wasn't like this, and it leads you to wonder if you have ever been without it. It becomes a part of you just as your limbs are, and you learn how to live with it, sometimes even relying on the familiarity. This makes the thought of getting better terrifying because it feels as though you are losing a vital piece of yourself. The unknown of what it is like to be without the comforting weight that you carry around. Not being able to escape into your mind when things get hard. Through getting better, you wonder what will be left of the you that you know. This leads to you clinging to depression and pushing away help. It is then that depression becomes the worst yet—draining you of not only energy, but of hope. Leaving you feeling inadequate while planting thoughts of suicide. Making you numb to life in order to separate you from those you care about. Hope becomes a thing of the past, leaving you unable to picture any future. Days blur together, leaving memories foggy.
It took a long time before the realization hit—depression is a thief. It steals life from you, leaving you stumbling blind for what you once knew. If gives you the faintest glimmer of what life could be like before shutting the light away, leaving you worse for wear. It has stolen lives from this earth, luring people into the clutches of suicide.
Tonight I see my mental illness in a new light, and I refuse to let it steal anything else from me.