I suffered from depression just like many other people. I am not here to give you statistic because that is just not going to be a positive thought no matter what number I throw out there. Suffered…. I meant to say that. Some say you never really get rid of it %100 but I don’t think that way. Every time it seemingly tries to show its ugly face in the back of my head I throw myself into UP Mode (Ultra Positive Mode). I will get more into UP Mode later.

It was very evident after 6th grade that I was very depressed. At the end of the school year the biggest crush I ever had, Allison, had given me her number and told me to call her over the summer. I never did call her, and from that point on I started losing all the friends I had in school. There was one person that stuck around during this time and that was Chris. To this day we are still best friends and he has carried a great importance on my life. A few years had gone by and Chris and I started chilling with other people in our neighborhood. Through comical stories of; getting hit by nunchucks,  breaking legos, hide and seek, laser tag, and video games, Chris and I started hanging out with Jake and another Mark. In the words of Jake today, “and the long of the short of it” Jake and I became best friends too.  Lots of people have one best friend but I have 2, I could never pick one over the other. With Chris and Jake it seems as though they have been part of my whole life, and I would say the 15-20 years is a huge chunk of time. From Chris and Jake I have developed an every growing circle of the absolute most amazing friends anyone could ever ask for.

Backing it back up, after 2 years of personal counseling I had a great new handle on my own depression. This has changed my life forever. It was weird to be able to concur it and then recognize exactly when it was trying to come back each time. After years of progress it seems as though It is gone for good. Having a good attitude on life certainly helps this too!

I think that is good for now. The next post I will talk about how Scouting has positively influenced my life.