Hi dotcom1, here’s a way I used to get information about an industry I wanted to enter. I looked up businesses in that field and then contacted the owners (entrepreneurs of 1- or 2-person companies) and told them I was considering entering that business, but I’d like to find out what it would be like to do it. I said I’d like to interview them over coffee. They all accepted and were very happy to share their experience and advice with me. I made a short script before contacting them by phone. I know this isn’t your situation, but you may be able to modify this process to fit your needs. Good luck.

Dear Liv, many good suggestions in these replies. I will add some of my own that have helped me out of depression. I know it seems impossible to make the effort to change your thinking when you are depressed, but all it takes is a decision to get started, and change only comes from within as others in this forum have said. “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve regardless of how many times you may have failed in the past,” said Napoleon Hill many decades ago. It sounds almost trite, but it works. I suggest you begin with thoughts and ideas that uplift you, and take time to enjoy doing things that make you happy (or used to make you happy). You don’t have to work at this – just spend some time each day focusing on the positive. Have you thought of trying self-help? There are so many great self-help processes available today that you are bound to find some that are just right for you. Look on Amazon for self-help books and videos. Google Mike Dooley, who has a wonderful message about creating the life you want while enjoying the process. Marci Shimoff and Morty Lefkoe are other good self-help sources to start with. Allow sound to heal you. Listen to music that soothes and uplifts your spirit. All these actions and more have helped me out of the dark days of depression. I hope some of these ideas will help start you on the road to discovering your own magnificence.