What stands out is not just the depression piece, but the slow shift in identity, from “this is my home and my mission” to “this is a context I can step in and out of.” That kind of decoupling can feel like exile at first, but it also sounds like it gave you room to rebuild something more stable. The antidepressant switch matters, but so does the permission to see the culture as one influence among many rather than the final reference class for truth and value. I appreciate the point about not projecting too much or too little. Communities shape people, and certain personality types will predictably get caught in certain grooves. Naming that without turning it into an indictment seems like the hard but necessary middle path.
What stands out is not just the depression piece, but the slow shift in identity, from “this is my home and my mission” to “this is a context I can step in and out of.” That kind of decoupling can feel like exile at first, but it also sounds like it gave you room to rebuild something more stable. The antidepressant switch matters, but so does the permission to see the culture as one influence among many rather than the final reference class for truth and value. I appreciate the point about not projecting too much or too little. Communities shape people, and certain personality types will predictably get caught in certain grooves. Naming that without turning it into an indictment seems like the hard but necessary middle path.