Normal expectations post depression?

Congrats! I also went through a similar thing, from about 19 to my mid-to-late 20s and started breaking out of my depression and came to a similar crossroads.

My advice would be set goals that are not only SMART, but also ones where the outcome is fully in your control.

For example, maybe a goal like, "By the end of next year I'll have a job with a salary of X dollars a year" sounds okay, but you don't control that. You don't have the power to hire and pay yourself. Instead, I'd recommend setting a goal like, "By the end of next month, I will apply for 30 jobs in the field I want to work", or if you need education to explore some options you want to, "I will apply for 5 scholarships by the end of the week".

What I found was that if I just focused on the things that I could control, the good things came as a side effect. Maybe not in the time, order, or exact way I wanted, but after a while I could look back at my choices and behavior and see a really obvious pattern of improvement, and it sort of helps feed the cycle since that becomes its own sort of motivation.

/r/NoStupidQuestions Thread