 Thus Fechner cured himself. It was as if it were all a question of will power. He found a source of strength within himself, a power to go out and meet the world. He now believed that he had allowed himself to sink into nothingness; if he was the source of his self-annihilation, he reasoned, he could also be the source of his self-affirmation. And so by Christmas of 1843, full of hope and confidence, Fechner walked out of his dark night, a new man. He would be a productive writer for the next forty four years.