Can you live with long-term depression?

It runs in my family. My mom, aunt, and grandmother spent long stretches of their lives lying around on couches watching tv.

I’m functional- there has never been a time that I haven’t gone to work, done laundry, eaten, etc. But a lot of the time I feel either draggy and sad or grey and blah. Probably most of the time. Like, it takes an effort to do basic things, I don’t feel like it, and I don’t really enjoy life that much or give a shit about anything sometimes. Sometimes there are episodes of dreadful sadness for weeks or months.

The most recent one lasted from October 2013 to about March 2014. I’m doing incrementally better, but it’s taking so long and the steps are so small.

I make an effort to be active because I don’t want to be like my relatives. Like, at least I can willpower my way out of inactivity. The author says up above,—“But trying to use willpower to overcome the apathetic sort of sadness that accompanies depression is like a person with no arms trying to punch themselves until their hands grow back. A fundamental component of the plan is missing and it isn’t going to work.”

Therapy is probably part of the answer, but I really, really can’t afford it. What would really help are things I can do by myself to manage it, or deal with it, and then get on with my life. Do people get better?