When you've struggled with anxiety or depression for a great duration of time, healing can be scary. You may start thinking...

• "This won't last."
• "Something is going to ruin this."
• "Is this the best I'll ever feel?"
• "This doesn't feel real. I'm not actually happy."
• "It's so hard to keep being positive."
• "I keep worrying about falling back into depression/anxiety. So nothing has actually changed."

I've gone through this stage of depression/anxiety many times. I think that accepting it as a stage of recovery is the best thing you can do. Tell yourself, "This is normal. Even if I relapse into my condition, I'm not doomed to be depressed forever." You must accept that while going through this stage, it does not actually feel better to be anxious or depressed. Tell yourself that being anxious or depressed is a false sense of security. Tell yourself if you relapse, the game is not over. Recovery is a baby-step process that will take time. I think I'm finally getting somewhere, but everything I'm learning didn't come to me in a few weeks or a few months even.

I think we let relapsing speak too much. I think we let it signify permanence of our struggles. It does not signify permanence - remember that. Going back to my Tips & Tricks For Fighting Negativity list, you can personify your depression and pretend it's a villain. Pretend it's not an actual part of you. Tell it that you have control if you feel a relapse coming on. Tell it that even if it hurts you again, it can't completely ruin you. Take, for example, the tragedy of 911 and the terrorists who wiped out so many lives. It will always be a tragedy, but it is overwhelming how much America supported the victims. Think of how many volunteers, with no relation to the tragedy, flew in to volunteer and find people. Or to volunteer and give the volunteers food and shelter so they could rest. Or how children made signs for their country, showing we can be hurt, but not broken. The villains did not "win." If a country can collectively show it has not lost over such a devastating event, you as an individual can make sure your villain does not win either. It is the most powerful message you can give yourself. Anytime you do something to get better, no matter how insignificant - like a picture of flag drawn in crayon by a five year old to support her country - you have not let your villain win.

See also, Intrusive Thoughts.