The "Lucky Ones"? They are the people who have never personally experienced depression, and hence struggle to imagine it, even if they're otherwise empathetic.
Here is what I tell them.
Imagine grief.
Losing someone really close to you.
This overwhelming feeling of not being whole anymore.
Now imagine going to work the next day.
You can barely concentrate. It takes all your efforts not to burst into tears.
You try to eat lunch.
None of what is on your plate has any flavour, nothing even wants to slide down your throat.
It's the evening, and you're supposed to meet friends.
You force yourself to go. You're surrounded by people who like you and whom you like.
But all you experience is this overwhelming feeling of grief and loss.
Nothing you normally enjoy has any taste.
It's like all the pleasure has been drained from your life.
Now imagine well-meaning people telling you:
"I've heard exercise is great".
"Don't worry, you'll feel better soon".
"You just need to pull yourself together".
And my personal favourite: "just snap out of it, you've got such a nice husband/ children/ house/ job, other people are so much worse off".
The bitch about depression is that there is not necessarily a visible trigger (but yes, there often is a hidden one), someone who died, or some personal tragedy.
So there is no official "mourning period".
No people who take turns in cooking for you.
Just the overwhelming feeling of a completely joyless life, often combined with the shame of not being able to "will yourself out of it".
So, if you're one of the "Lucky Ones", imagine bottomless grief, sometimes causeless grief - and you're close to what depression feels like.
Now please, think again, whether those who suffer from it will benefit from your (well-meant) advice...