Thanks for the responses. Underwater, my experience with Lexapro hasn't been too bad. I started on July 4th (the day after my minor car accident, I was actually driving to pick up the prescription!). I thought I might have gotten worse headaches the day after, but things got back to normal fairly quickly. I think just the fact that I'd decided to take lexapro (after a long time of worrying about whether or not I should take it) alleviated some anxiety, which must've been moreso a placebo than the medication actually working, as it supposedly takes a while.

I can't pinpoint exactly when I think it started "working". I still feel sad a lot, and have anxious thoughts, but they aren't accompanied by the bodily reactions associated with anxiety, and they tend to not stick around as often. I'd say it probably took me about a month to feel much different.

As far as all these minor accidents, I just wish there were some way of knowing to what extent they actually affect us, i.e. some general rule of thumb that "this sort of impact is fine, and this sort of impact does some damage". I know there isn't a way, and I've reduced the amount I try to "figure this stuff out", but part of the frustration I feel is that I just don't know if they've significantly set me back, or if it's just my reaction to them that's setting me back (likely both, as with most things in life).

I also don't know whether I should back off on what I'm doing when something happens. For instance, this coming week I was planning on volunteer coaching a few days a week for my old high school cross country team, something I figured would be a low key activity that would bring me some joy. Should I not do it because of this slip? Or press on? Same thing with overall exercise, I'm up to 3 20 min. walks a day, should I back off, or keep doing that? I guess there's not an easy answer, I just wish there were!