“At this point, I don’t have depression. There is not an experience of depression. I had that for years, but now, when the rain comes, it rains, but it doesn’t stay. It doesn’t stay long enough to immerse me and drown me anymore.” – Jim Carrey.
In an interview, Carrey shares his insights and the amazing realization that he came to after years of fame and constant battling with depression. He says that it is a complete waste of time to try to curate or create a particular (often false) identity for ourselves.
And Jim says that this is all our ego in play. Our desire to be someone. To feel important. To matter. However, this grasp of a singular identity leaves us only with an extreme pain and suffering because of these three crucial reasons:
First, it separates us from other human beings. Second, we are deluded into thinking that nothing is supposed to change, that we should not change. And third, it disconnects us from our internal goodness and it makes us feel like we are not good enough.
“People talk about depression all the time. The difference between depression and sadness is sadness is just from happenstance—whatever happened or didn’t happen for you, or grief, or whatever it is. Depression is your body saying f*ck you, I don’t want to be this character anymore, I don’t want to hold up this avatar that you’ve created in the world. It’s too much for me.
You should think of the word ‘depressed’ as ‘deep rest.’ Your body needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character that you’ve been trying to play,” explains Jim.
Finally, he says that he is not suffering from depression anymore. He is sad, joyful, happy, and elated, he is feeling all sorts of things, but they are like the rain – they evaporate and go away. They are only ideas to him. He doesn’t allow his feelings to kill him anymore.
