"I'm Okay"
"I'm okay." It's probably the most common lie most of us tell. Not malicious, not even conscious most of the time. Someone asks how you're doing and the words come out before you've even checked in with yourself. I'm okay. Fine. Good.
But what if you actually believed it?
That's the part nobody talks about. Most men who are struggling with depression aren't walking around knowing they're depressed. They're not sad, exactly. They're just... flat. The things that used to feel good don't feel like much anymore. Work gets done, the kids get fed, you show up where you're supposed to show up. From the outside everything looks fine. From the inside it feels like going through the motions in a life that belongs to someone else.
That's depression. Not the crying-on-the-floor version you've seen in commercials. The gray, low-ceiling, nothing-really-matters-but-nothing-is-really-wrong version. The version that's easy to dismiss because you can't point to it. The version that makes "I'm okay" feel technically true even when something is clearly off.
Men are particularly good at this. Not because men don't feel things, but because "I'm okay" gets rewarded. It's what you're supposed to say. Saying anything else requires a vocabulary most men were never given and an audience they were never sure was safe.
So the flatness continues. Maybe you drink a little more than you used to, nothing crazy. Maybe you're shorter with the people around you, more irritable than the situation warrants. Maybe you just feel vaguely far away from your own life, watching it happen rather than living it.
None of that feels like depression. It just feels like Tuesday.
If any of this sounds familiar, therapy is worth considering. Not because something is catastrophically wrong with you, but because that flatness has a floor somewhere and it's worth finding out where before it finds you. A 15 minute phone call is a reasonable place to start.
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Practical Details
Location: In-person in Baldwin Park, available virtually throughout FL.
Format: Individual therapy only
Approach: Psychodynamic, depth-oriented
Payment: Private pay (sliding scale may be available)
Specialties: Depression, Anxiety, Addictions, Veterans, and Men’s Issues
— Nick Sterling, MA | Real Counseling Orlando | Depression therapist in Orlando