Emotional turbulence is not a mark of her generation. Unlike ours. Emotional restlessness seems to be a glorious badge flaunted by our generation. -RC Nalus, Depression Generation


That was written back in 1996. At that time, the writer was mainly referring to the twenty something people as the ones who experience frequent bouts with depression. Seven years after, we still see and hear many twenty something going through this. Young people seem to have caught up this dilemma as well. You have teeners who think that Beck's "I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me" is their song. You read blogs and feel slightly depressed after going through their entries, some of which borders on the absurd to the disturbing.

But who am I to pass judgment on them? I, for one, find myself in a state of emotional wreckage more often than I want to. It's those days when although I know I have my family and friends, I can't help hating some of the circumstances going my way and feeling like the world is out there conspiring against me. Unlike others who struggle with this invisible enemy and act like they're fine and normal, I stay away from people, sit back, listen to really sad songs, and watch "misery-inducer" movies. What can I say? I'm a massochist. I'd rather be one and wallow in misery for a day or two, or even a week at the most than pretend I'm not depressed. Yes, I sit back and nurse my depression, start doing my psychological exercises, understand my inner self and wait for that moment of clarity. Then I'm ok. It may be days, weeks or months, before my next bout with depression comes again. And the process continues.

Some people may not understand what I (we) are going through thinking that we're just being pretentious, exaggerated and self-indulging. We may be. But as long as there are people who expect us to be perfect and fine despite the ambiguities of this world, they can go on and consider us just that.