This is such an uplifting article. It's great to see someone recognizing their own healing and thinking about how they made it all work.
> I set aside hours each day to do nothing. In some sense, this was meditation. Except, I did not force myself to not think.
In fact this is exactly what many styles of meditation practice are! You're not "not thinking," you're being self-aware of your thoughts and learning to guide them where you want them. I say this not to be pedantic but to correct some notions of what meditation usually tries to achieve: more self-awareness and control, which you can use to help guide your own sense of self and healing. (At least this is the conclusion I've come to after using one of the well-known apps that I actually really like.)
I still suffer from light depression and moderate ADHD, but meditation has been just as effective for me as therapy and medication for both of these (although I'm sure medication and therapy are making the mediation easier and more effective).
> I set aside hours each day to do nothing. In some sense, this was meditation. Except, I did not force myself to not think.
In fact this is exactly what many styles of meditation practice are! You're not "not thinking," you're being self-aware of your thoughts and learning to guide them where you want them. I say this not to be pedantic but to correct some notions of what meditation usually tries to achieve: more self-awareness and control, which you can use to help guide your own sense of self and healing. (At least this is the conclusion I've come to after using one of the well-known apps that I actually really like.)
I still suffer from light depression and moderate ADHD, but meditation has been just as effective for me as therapy and medication for both of these (although I'm sure medication and therapy are making the mediation easier and more effective).