In my experience it seemed to take a lot more effort and willpower to manage while being depressed, and no amount of effort or willpower seemed to have any lasting result. The effect of depression was a greatly reduced sense of available energy for anything. I equate emotions with the mail and they always have a message. Sometimes I go far out of my way to avoid the message because I don't want to hear it. For me the idea that superficial things cannot make me happy was a message I didn't want to hear, but when I finally got the message I saw that there is a far more meaningful and purposeful way of engaging with life. I had to give up on the hope that someday my superficial dreams will come true. Holding onto superficial dreams was depressing. Letting go of what can't work anyway led to a new sense of lightness that I did not know was possible.
