My Journey Through Depression: Finding Light in the Shadows

Understanding Depression: A Common Struggle

Depression is a word that often carries a heavy shadow. For many, it sounds dramatic, frightening, or like a permanent condition. However, most people experience some form of depression at some point in their lives.

It doesn’t always mean lying in bed for months or needing a diagnosis. Sometimes, it simply means feeling demotivated, fatigued, disconnected, or uninspired. At other times, it can grow into something deeper, more intense, and more consuming.

Western medicine often prescribes pills, which may suppress symptoms but rarely touch the root cause. From a holistic perspective, depression is not the end of the story—it is a signal. It is a soul calling, a deep rest, and a natural invitation to pause, realign, and reconnect with who you truly are.

My Story: A Personal Journey

10 Years ago. Looking Normal, Feeling broken. Only 23 years Young. In my Parents House.

When I was about 22–23 years old, I was finishing my first degree in Law and Business. That year, I went through what doctors called depression. Their immediate response was to offer medication. However, something deep inside me knew that those pills would only numb me further.

That was also the year I arrived in Greece. At the time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I had no clarity about my future. What Greece gave me was something else entirely: a gap. The empty space I so desperately needed.

Here, I could pause. I could sit with myself, connect with nature, and release the endless loop of thoughts. I found myself breathing again, calming down, and syncing with the natural rhythm of the sea, the mountains, and the wind. Greece became my medicine—the safe space that allowed me to feel, to de-stress, and to reconnect. That was the beginning of my healing journey, and the reason I chose to root myself here.

Practical Tools for Managing Depression

When you’re already in a depressed state, here are a few gentle steps you can take to support yourself:

1. Allow yourself to rest – Don’t fight it. Give yourself permission to slow down.

2. Connect with nature – Walk outside, feel the earth, and watch the sky. Nature resets us.

3. Move your body – Gentle yoga, stretching, or even a slow walk shifts energy.

4. Express yourself – Write, paint, sing, or simply let your emotions out.

5. Ask for support – Share your feelings with a trusted friend, mentor, or therapist.

   
   

A very important understanding for each of us is that life itself is a project to be managed. With the same seriousness and dedication you bring to a project at work, you must also approach your own life. You are the project manager of your existence. The first steps will not be easy—they may feel heavy, uncomfortable, and even overwhelming. But they will also be powerful, impactful, and transformative. The moment you truly realize that you must stand up and fight for your life is the moment everything begins to shift.

Prevention: Building Inner Resilience

How can you live in a way that makes depression less likely to overwhelm you? Here are some strategies to consider:

1. Daily movement – Keep energy flowing with yoga, walks, or any joyful activity.

2. Mindful practices – Meditation, breathwork, and journaling keep you present and balanced.

3. Creative expression – Always keep a channel open for your inner voice to flow.

4. Healthy nourishment – Choose food that fuels both body and mind.

5. Rituals of rest – Prioritize sleep, pause, and digital detox when needed.

6. Surroundings matter – Stay connected with people who inspire and uplift you. Let go of anyone who pulls you down. Your environment shapes your spirit.

   
   

A Call to WAKE UP!

If you’ve found this article meaningful, know this: healing is not about avoiding sadness or pretending to be joyful all the time. Life includes all shades—light and dark, joy and grief, expansion and contraction. The gift lies in embracing them all and choosing, again and again, the direction that uplifts and expands you.

This is why I share what I share. This is why I teach yoga, why I guide sound healing, and why I create retreats. These practices are natural ways to reconnect with yourself, free from external forces that profit from our disconnection.

And this is why I welcome you here, in Greece—the very place that gave me the healing space I once needed. My role is not to cure or fix you, but to hold a safe and sacred container where you can remember your own strength, awareness, and joy.

The journey won’t happen in one day, but it will be the most fulfilling path you can take for yourself. I am here to guide, to share, and to walk beside you—as long as you are willing to take that step inward.

With so much compassion, understanding, firmness in duty, and love! The biggest practice of all. It is my promise to you: all paths lead there.

I have been down this path, and ever since, life has become an open question: how much better can it all get?

Anastasia - Undina - Inspired by nature and its healing properties, including us—the human kind.