Marcel Proust, author of “In Search of Lost Time,” experienced multiple bouts of depression and debilitating illness. He spent a majority of his life reading books, aimlessly moving about society, and trying to find his life’s task. Later, he found some meaning translating the work of John Ruskin into French, and later still he would go on to write a book, “In Search of Lost Time,” which essentially accounts for his life and lessons learned in “wasting” time. “In Search of Lost Time” became one of his most famous works and was published in 7 volumes.

Marcel didn’t realize it until later, but studying and writing about our society and the art of living were his life’s tasks, and doing the work of writing and studying brought him out of his deepest holes. What’s the lesson?

Reflecting on Proust, I asked myself the question, “Can having a sense of responsibility to ourselves hack depression? Can it take us out of our deepest slumps?” Perhaps it can.

Perhaps it can because what if owning a responsibility was a major component of the identity we create for ourselves? And,

What if that responsibility (read: our life’s greatest responsibility), was something we could act on every day? And,

What if acting that responsibility out every day, even when we would rather do nothing else, activated a part of ourselves that reminds us that we matter? And,

What if realizing for ourselves that we matter is key to our feeling good about ourselves?

A lot of “what if’s,” but a thought worth exploring. If it worked for Proust, what if it works for us?