I slowly (VERY slowly) started to occupy myself with things away from the internet, because that meant I was alone inside all day with nothing but my thoughts, and nothing to distract me. Initially I hardly made it outside, lost interest in almost everything. I had to change my mindset, I started reading more by going to a cafe with a book or to a nice park/riverside.

Some days I couldn't take being outside all alone, but that became less frequent the more I went out. I went to D'n'D nights with my friends, which was really fun and interactive, started painting, did a few online courses in web development and even though I haven't done anything with it I feel like I can accomplish something. Once you start getting yourself outside and mixing with people sometimes that can help start to climb your way out.

I started chastising myself after low moments which didn't help, "so many people have it so much worse than you" so when I had a bout of depression after a while I wouldn't even feel sad, I just conditioned myself to feel numb. That wasn't much better. After that I started to coach myself with more 'positive thinking'. I'm not all that big on the positive thinking craze, but I made action plans for what I wanted and what I wanted to do. Like savings plans, getting a cat, how often I wanted to go out. It was okay if I failed somethings or if thing's backfired, I had backup plans and other things had gone well too, so it's not all bad. I wouldn't go to pieces again if everything went to hell, just dust it off and try again.

Depression is a medical condition and you can't always think yourself out of it. I was in bad relationships (both romantic and platonic) that took advantage of my low self esteem, and that hindered my road to recovery. It took me 6-7 years to get where I am, and I can have the off day or a low time but I strived in small ways to make my life better and I'm still not there yet, but I decided on what I wanted and there's light at the end of the tunnel.