In recent months, I have been losing touch with both myself and my dear friends. At first, I simply thought it was a creative slump. To those friends whom I've been losing touch with, I'm sorry. I've done things that I would not have meant to do in a normal state of mind. But it's coming to an end.

This slump I've been in is something that I have tried time and again to ignore and avoid my entire life. It's something that my mother suffers from and has suffered from since about my age. What I am speaking of is depression... now, I know you may be thinking that I'm just imagining it. But it was diagnosed to run in the family nearly a decade ago by a doctor who isn't some hack who just wants to push pills, and has been our family doctor since my parents were young teens. It seems I can't ignore it any longer, but the solution for me does not lie in medication.

I will NOT let it turn me into someone like my mother, who is nothing more than a husk of the woman that I knew in my childhood and early adolescence. It hurts to say that about her, but it's the simple truth. I won't let it destroy my friendships and my life like I have seen it do. To those I have spoken to lately, I internalize a lot of my issues and there are many that I keep only to myself. Only recently have I realized I need to get this off my chest now that I am nearing its resolution. To those I haven't spoken to as of late, I truly am sorry for being so absent when I promised I would be around more. But now, like a country after the second world war, I'm ready to rebuild. I should be getting back on IM's and in contact with all those I have been neglecting to contact within the next couple days.