I have suffered from depression since I was a teenager, and I am all-too familiar with the interminable fatigue that accompanies it. Feelings such as defeated will, loss of purpose, hopelessness, etc., are synonymous with depression also.

When we examine the word “depression” more closely, we find the word “depress” — i.e. to push down. So, when we wake up in the morning, only to feel a debiltating force weighing us down, we are literally “depressed”.

You also mention the act of “people pleasing” which, in the language of psychology, translates to “the provisional personality”. In other words, we adopt a false self syndrome. This inevitably leads us to a crisis because the psyche can be fooled only so much.

I turned forty-six today … Hooray 😂 And, appropriately, I recently published an article — “The Midlife Crisis: A Jungian/Personal Perspective ” — here on Medium. It is an attempt to explicate more fully what I have summarised here.