Everyone who experiences depression struggles to convey the experience to those who do not. This excerpt comes closest to my own description, and the entire post provides several similes that might help.
Depression is like seeing everyone else walking around and functioning normally on land, but somehow you have to walk through four feet of water. Everything is slower, more deliberate. Everything takes more effort. And sometimes the water gets deeper, and all you can do is tread water, hoping desperately that you’ll be able to hold on long enough for the waves to carry you back into the shallower water again. Sometimes the waves crash over your head, and you have to fight your way back to the surface. Sometimes it feels like you’re underwater, and you can only see the people around you through the water, so everything is distorted and strange.
wow, that’s such a good description. when i’ve tried to describe it to people i’ve said, it’s like walking through a constant haze, or treading through mud.
Thank you for the link and your kind comments. I used to write poems about the experience, but after my doctor prescribed an anti-psychotic, I lost my poetry. But sometimes the need to express it is still very much there, the need to reach out for other people who have been there. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one.