Epictitus was a slave for most of his early life, and a cripple, yet also thrived later in life.
Stoicism is the closest thing to a complete practical philosophy ever created by man.
on the note of thriving later in life, Winston Churchill was lord of the admiralty in the First World War. His Gallipoli idea ended up failing and losing thousands of men. It was a huge mistake and ended him pretty much. He spent over a decade licking his wounds, depressed and defeated.
At age 65 he became wartime prime minister and is now considered the greatest Briton of all time. One of the greatest authors too.
His speeches galvanised an empire to fight to the death. One of his finest was in october 1940 when the majority of Britain was being bombed, close to starvation and he dropped this:
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
The rather rambling point I’m making here is that you’re never finished and never too old and to quote Walter white, get up and kick that bastard right in the teeth.
this is the attitude needed to defeat depression.