I've heard this metaphor before; you are not the first to say it and you will not be the last. There is a major issue with this analogy, however. Your analogy treats the brain like a muscle. Like if we have enough willpower, we can transform how that muscle works completely. People may point out that the brain does change. All those little wrinkles? That's everything you know. The French you learned in 8th grade, the way to hold a pencil, your favorite quote from a play ... If you can add a "wrinkle" or one could fade, why can't you change other things? I'm afraid it's not so simple. The brain is like the lungs, not the bicep, and far more complicated to boot. It's a fine tuned machine. And like any machine, it can break down. It can have defects. And the more complicated the machine, the harder it is to figure out what is going wrong. Now try to figure out how to fix that machine without any manual and only a tiny inkling of how that machine works. Just believing you can fix it isn't going to fix it.

The best example I've seen that could be relatable to this conversation is from Inside Out. Have you seen it? If not, I highly suggest watching it. [Spoiler] The emotions plant the idea in Riley's mind to run away. When she gets on the bus to do so, the emotions realize their mistake. But the control board starts to turn gray, stop working. And Disgust explains, "We can't make Riley feel anything." This phrase, this grayed out control board, is the best explanation for depression I've seen. Just using willpower and telling my brain to turn off the negative thoughts can't work if the control panel is broken, so to speak.

From reading your post and comments, I would say you've never had depression. I'm not talking the short down feelings that often get confused with depression. I'm talking the actual, brain not functioning correctly, feeling nothing depression. It is not laziness. (The fact that you even suggest this was incredibly telling of how little you understand about depression.) It is not because we want to feel this way, and the typical stigmas that coincide with that. I understand you are trying to be helpful, or inspirational. But please don't just degrade what we are going through. Don't just tell us we just need to be stronger, or "mind over matter". Do your research.

The one thing I will agree with you on is that yes, we can be a victim or a fighter. But I fight by researching. By trying to understand what is going wrong in this fine-tuned machine of mine. And the more research is done, the closer we get to an answer. And if we can find the answer, the next step would be to find how to fix the problem. The truth is, we don't understand what causes depression. But the more research that is done, the more the physical presence of depression becomes clear. The more obvious it becomes that depression - and other mental illnesses - is more than just an abstract feeling that can be banished with happy thoughts.