I began to uncover layers of pathology. In doing so, I realized at my root, my depression and anxiety — as well as my oversharing, confessionals, defensiveness, self-sabotage, and passive-aggressive system of over-promising and under-delivering — stem from a validation addiction, fueled by anxious attachment, rooted in buried trauma, and activated by associated triggers: rejection, dismissal, underestimation. I hadn’t yet climbed out of the darkness, yet the sun was rising and the clouds were beginning to part.