Sometimes, it feels like fighting through cobwebs.

Although most of my columns are pretty personal, this one is maybe more so than the rest. But that’s how I am. I deal with most of my troubles by shedding light on them, because it’s likely that you share some of those same challenges.

For most of my life, I’ve suffered from depression. Sometimes, mostly when I was younger, it was debilitating. Age, I have to say, has made it less so, and my accomplishments — a wonderful job, a profitable book store, successful children, a good marriage, good friends, and new friends in the music world — make my issues take a back seat to joy on most days.

Believe me, I know I am lucky. But still, there are days that I forget. I forget and I let these feelings of lethargy, sadness (especially recently, since I lost my mother-in-law) and irrelevancy roll over me like a giant wave that knocks me down.

But then, I think about everything that still needs to be done. A dog’s face in mine, reminding me he has to be fed. A story that I have to finish writing about someone I really like. A granddaughter who needs me to remind her how awesome she is. It makes me remember that power to push through those cobwebs is in my control and no one else’s. All of that is more important than allowing the negativity that wormed its way into the day to rule me.

All of those activities make me go outside of myself. Being self-absorbed can be a dangerous place; you miss the bigger picture where you are a cog in the wheel for making things happen that can bring you, and others, joy. I find that when I can make life easier for someone else by doing even small things, it gives me a boost. It somehow means that I matter, at least in that moment.

And then, I lose myself in the bigger things, like writing challenging stories for the Finger Lakes Times or “Nippertown,” where I freelance music stories. I get excited about pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, remembering to keep things in perspective because no one is going to be losing fingers or toes this day and I am free to test the waters.

I find that once I can get on the other side of those cobwebs, things are easier. They don’t always stay that way; I am not immune to letting people push my buttons, but I am getting better at believing myself, rather than what others think, or think they know.

That’s what I tell my grandkids, and that’s what somehow I’ve been able to impart to my daughters when they were growing up. The control as to who you are, what you think about yourself, and how you choose to behave is yours and not anyone else’s.

So, I acknowledge the depression, but most days, those cobwebs, they don’t stand a chance.

Louise Hoffman Broach is the Sunday editor and a reporter at the Finger Lakes Times. Contact her at lbroach@fltimes.com or 315-789-3333, ext. 253.