Depression feels like I don't want to do anything. This doesn't feel like that. This feels like someone put a plastic bag over my head and I can't breathe. It is a real physiological thing. It's like somebody put a really strong rubber band around my entire lung section. I woke up perfectly happy that day and ready to work, and I tried to bike, and it was like I was biking but then somebody blocked my airway with a really thick towel.
When I say I can't bike I'm not talking about a "first world" or even "the struggle is real" kind of can't. I'm talking about a physical reality, a "car engine can't run without oxygen, body is ordering me to stop" kind of can't.
One time shortly after the disease I got really annoyed that my ability was decreasing and just biked anyway. The next day my lungs were so bad that I had to get work off.
I also wanted to comment on the brain fog comments. Brain fog from long covid isn't a "life has no meaning, why try" problem like depression has been in the past for me. Brain fog is a physiological problem. Your brain consumes 30% of the oxygen you breathe. If you're getting less oxygen, you can't think as much. It becomes harder to remember the name of the item that you use to control the TV ("remote") or the name of your second born son. I remember one time it took me ages to remember that the word for that thing you used to strain pasta is called a collander.