Happy! Contest: Love when you don't expect it....

An illustration done for a contest for the artbook that I'll hope to be part of. The theme really spoke to me. More information in the journal here: happyartbook.deviantart.com/jo…

dA username: Sanatio
Preferred name in artbook: Sanatio
Website: sanatio.deviantart.com
Description of artwork (70 words max.): One day, my young cat Sana came to me while I was crying in my room. Despite beeing a non-cuddly cat, she climbed on the sofa to be at eye-level with me, put her head against my forehead, and purred to comfort me. I have been suffering from depression for ten years, but since I have her, I can now truly have peace of mind.

PS: The picture on the background is a photo from my bedroom, where this scene happened. So yes, it's a personnal reference.

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Why this memory is so important to me is that I have struggled hard with depression over my life and most of the time, people would just tell "snap out of it". I stayed depressed, with some good periods where I could feel joy, and then it started again. It didn't need triggers all the time. However, I met lots of shitty people who surely didn't help...
What people don't understand is that beeing depressed (clinically) and beeing emo are two different things. Depression is about the chemical reactions in your brain, and they aren't correctly levelled. Nowadays, it is still experimental, as antidepressant have been found "by accident" and don't have perfect results.
I have been under antidepressants for 3 years now, and I have better sleep now (no nightmares) and overall I'm in better condition. But the most recent event that helped me "snapping out of it" was this event with Sana, my cat. I had her for a few month, and it was my first time having pets.
What's wonderful with cats is that they can feel your emotions, and have the liberty to act. She could have simply walked past me, doing cat stuff. It's not like me crying would enable her from getting food, there wre other people at home who could feed her. No, she chose to come to me, and offered me her healing purr. And as I can't write it better, here is something I found about purring:

"While purring, domestic cats produce a sound frequency of 25 to 150 vibrations per second. This relaxing sound induces brainwave entraining eliminating stress factors, the “noise” of the chaotic thoughts and is helping to harmonize people’s inner being.According to many sources, purring has influence over physical body too. Cat sound vibration frequencies helps bone healing. In an alternative, so-called animal therapy mostly cats are used. It is recommending cats to be around small children in the process of strengthening their bones. Animal therapy is also often used against depression."
Since that moment with her, I have never experimented another depression episode. I have been depression-free for a year now and it's an amazing feeling. I think, this is what happiness is for me. Beeing able to enjoy every small things in life, having no fear to go to sleep. I am grateful to my cats for that major improvement in my life.