A few years ago, I was undergoing a few years of severe depression, as I struggled to find stable employment that would make me happy. I managed to find a job at my current workplace and the contracts were still not very long-term when I first began here, thus giving me a lot of feelings of anxiety and self-doubt as well. I started to have chronic insomnia, problems with my appetite, alcoholic addictions, and struggles with feeling I was worth anything after all my years of struggling on my own.

I was fortunate to meet another professional who had worked this type of job for ten years longer than I had. He was someone I looked up to and he had always been supportive in fighting for me to receive various project opportunities. This was already very kind of him, in a workplace environment that usually does not encourage human connections. But a real spark came when he saw me give a work presentation one week. He texted me afterwards with this message, “That was an amazing talk. And I can’t wait to see all the exciting things you’ll do in the future.”

For someone who was chronically depressed, imagining better futures felt impossible to me. There would be no future to hope for, except one that probably ended in pain, gloom, or my own destruction. Because I looked up to my colleague so much, and because I would believe any of his assessments, he reignited my own belief in my own ability at work and the potentials I could see in being rewarded for my performance. Sure enough, I was able to secure a better employment contract within a year from that instigating moment. My colleague and I collaborate often, and he remains a steadfast supporter of all I do. He has changed my life for the better.