I dyed my hair because it makes me happy. I'm very happy for now.
That sounds so sad.
It's the small things that make us the happiest sometimes.
I dyed my hair because it makes me happy. I'm very happy for now.
That sounds so sad.
It's the small things that make us the happiest sometimes.![]()
You win this game by giving up the fight. I don't mean giving up on life. I mean just giving up the fight with your thoughts, and worries, and basically anything that makes you feel bad.
When you feel yourself entering battle with these thoughts, stop yourself, and surrender to them. Literally take a deep breath and relax. No more fighting. If you make a habit of this you will see improvement. The more you care about your thoughts, the more power they have, the more important they feel. The less you concern yourself about your thoughts, the less important they become.
You win this game by giving up the fight. I don't mean giving up on life. I mean just giving up the fight with your thoughts, and worries, and basically anything that makes you feel bad.
When you feel yourself entering battle with these thoughts, stop yourself, and surrender to them. Literally take a deep breath and relax. No more fighting. If you make a habit of this you will see improvement. The more you care about your thoughts, the more power they have, the more important they feel. The less you concern yourself about your thoughts, the less important they become.
Saw my psychiatrist today. After I told him Pristiq was doing fuck all to help, he switched my prescription for the third time. I'm now on Wellbutrin instead of Pristiq. Fourth antidepressant... Let's see how this one goes. Kind of tired of everything. He and my therapist asked me to give myself (also, them) more time before I do/attempt anything.
I do let the thoughts just run their race a lot of the time. Still doesn't help. Instead of worrying about whether or not I'm strong enough to fight them, it's more of a "when will I give in to them?".
But then you'll be totally drowned in depressive thoughts and you won't be able to get out of it. And you'll feel weak for not being able to resist those thoughts.I concur. Whatever feelings may come, you have to let them flow through you rather than resist them. It sucks, yes, but then you're just sad, rather than anxious/angry about being sad. It removes the extra layer of complexity, leaving just you and your emotion.
The more completely you can feel these things and let them come and go as they please the less dominating they become and the more presence of mind you can dedicate to figuring out how to move forward in the long term instead of how to resist in the short term.
NoIt's the small things that make us the happiest sometimes.![]()
Oh you. I think that phrase is true, I tend to smile when little things happen
Saw my psychiatrist today. After I told him Pristiq was doing fuck all to help, he switched my prescription for the third time. I'm now on Wellbutrin instead of Pristiq. Fourth antidepressant... Let's see how this one goes. Kind of tired of everything. He and my therapist asked me to give myself (also, them) more time before I do/attempt anything.
If there is a god then there isn't anything to smile at.Oh you. I think that phrase is true, I tend to smile when little things happen
There is a god, but don't worry, he doesn't do anything, he's just staring at us.If there is a god then there isn't anything to smile at.
If there is a god I will die in my sleep tonightThere is a god, but don't worry, he doesn't do anything, he's just staring at us.
Oh well.If there is a god I will die in my sleep tonight
Good, see I told you they would know a little bit more what else to give you.
Remember to look at the stuff I sent you in the PM.
If life is just suffering and death why not cut out the suffering part and die?
That's not going so well for me right nowAsk someone who's life is just suffering and death. I remember you being excited about stuff in the weight loss thread. NeoGAF must bring some joy to your life as well because you are still a member![]()
That's not going so well for me right now
NoBut it's something you've managed to try and surely it felt good?
But then you'll be totally drowned in depressive thoughts and you won't be able to get out of it. And you'll feel weak for not being able to resist those thoughts.
Of course, trying to have an optimistic mindset doesn't work either, so the only thing that's left is to suck it up and feel like shit until the day you die, knowing you'll never do anything with your life, and that you'll die alone, always alone, like a shadow in a dark alley, undistinguishable from your surroundings, completely invisible. Maybe a friend or two will mourn you, along with some family members, but that's it. They'll move on, and the world will keep on turning, uncaring. And you won't even find comfort in death, as death is but the cease of every feeling, the shutdown of the brain, the stopping of the heart. But there will also be no more depression, no more ugly feelings, no more bad days. No more loneliness.
Nah, this is a fight you can't win. The only thing you can do is get up every morning and have one more day of struggle before giving up. No reason to continue, except the futile hope that things will get better, and a reckless refusal to admit defeat.
Accept your depressive thoughts for what they are. Temporary depressive thoughts.
You don't know it right now, but what Piano and I are saying is literally THE key to overcoming anxiety/depression. Think of it as a magic trick that you don't understand now, but eventually you'll be like "holy shit, that's how it works".
You win the fight against anxiety/depression by not fighting. See how backwards that sounds? That's the reason it's such a foreign concept to most people the first time they hear it. Fighting keeps you sick. When you stop fighting, and just let go of your thoughts, you win.
When I say "fighting", I mean engaging these thoughts/worries. A negative or worrisome thought arises, and the depressive/anxious person engages the thought. What if it's true? What if I am a horrible person?!? What if I really will never fall in love?!?
The person who wins responds to those thoughts with taking a deep breath and "That's OK. It's just my anxious brain at work again". Accept that you're prone to this type of thinking, and it's OK. With time the more you stop engaging those thoughts, and digging a deeper hole, the more easily you can emerge from them, feeling at ease. Thoughts only mean something if you allow them to mean something.
Eventually you'll be able to brush negative/worrisome thoughts off your shoulder like a fly that just landed there for a moment.
I will echo what BruiserBear and Piano and Locke are saying.But then you'll be totally drowned in depressive thoughts and you won't be able to get out of it. And you'll feel weak for not being able to resist those thoughts.
Of course, trying to have an optimistic mindset doesn't work either, so the only thing that's left is to suck it up and feel like shit until the day you die, knowing you'll never do anything with your life, and that you'll die alone, always alone, like a shadow in a dark alley, undistinguishable from your surroundings, completely invisible. Maybe a friend or two will mourn you, along with some family members, but that's it. They'll move on, and the world will keep on turning, uncaring. And you won't even find comfort in death, as death is but the cease of every feeling, the shutdown of the brain, the stopping of the heart. But there will also be no more depression, no more ugly feelings, no more bad days. No more loneliness.
Nah, this is a fight you can't win. The only thing you can do is get up every morning and have one more day of struggle before giving up. No reason to continue, except the futile hope that things will get better, and a reckless refusal to admit defeat.
Well, like I said above, it may be best to try to not engage in the thoughts and take them seriously if they are out f whack. It's hard to say when you don't specify, but if they are intrusive thoughts that just seem to be repeating themselves no matter what you do, it could be your own mental spam mail and you might need to look into professional help for it.Depression-gaf...I could really use some help right about now.
I have been going in a downward spiral of depression, but it's only gotten worse recently. I don't know if I can post the whole story, but I'll be the first to admit that a lot of my problems stem from within me. I got feelings, and thoughts I cant seem to click off in my brain. I used to think my depression was just bad moods, but lately it's even gone into the realm of feeling suicidal.
I don't know how to get out of this funk...I got school work due tomorrow, and essay work I need to try to focus on for the next few weeks, and I can't even get my brain to remember the words I'm reading out of the book. I have recently tried setting up appointments with a therapist, and I'm supposed to see a social worker on Thursday, but I'm still in a lot of just emotional pain, and it makes me feel physically ill.
Any help on how I can at least get myself to focus....because my brain just refuses to work properly right now.![]()
It always feels like you are asking for us to challenge your thoughts for you because you really want them to be wrong so you can have some semblance of an external supply of hope. Is this the case?
It sounds like the suicidal thoughts are more of a side effect of trying to find ways to "acceptably" escaping your anxiety-provoking situation? I think I am a lot like you. Social situations and trying to keep my fake "pep" up to strangers or coworkers who I would still consider strangers is the most exhausting thing ever. And so, there were a few times in my own internship placements where I have had thoughts of "oh gosh, if I died, I wouldn't have to do any of that and who would be able to blame me? I'd be dead." But of course that's not a great solution. Your brain just thinks maybe it could be because it's using its low-grade AI that way, but you are the one that consciously has to think it over and realize it's not a realistic solution at all.I'm terrified. The past month I've been having suicidal thoughts all day long. I have severe problems socializing with people and fear of failure which is affecting my studies. I'm doing an internship rihgt now and I'm expected to be very social and full of energy but I just can't. I'd have to resort to heavy stimulants to meet their expectations. And even if I do succeed in my studies, I won't be any happier which makes life so hard.
I feel that when it comes to such a thing and all things being equal, you just pick one and gogogo~!I'm stuck at the cross roads in my life and unsure where I should go...The fear is paralyzing me to the point I can't even move...What's the use.......
Can I submit bad poetry I made in grades 7-11 when I didn't even really understand what depression or existential angst was and just musing on it? xD I feel like even though I didn't know what I was writing, the poems or characters they were based on might have had a deeper understanding somehow.Two things:
1) I've started to get some amazing submissions for a possible depression-GAF anthology (including from our shadow community of lurkers whose GAF accounts have not been approved yet). I've received two different descriptions of what depression is like - a poem and an extended metaphor in prose. I'm really blown away!
I'd love to see more submissions! I haven't established any kind of deadline yet, as I'd still like to hear people commit to the idea and see if we reach some kind of critical mass for putting something together. Anything that will fit on a page is welcome - poems, drawings, comics, essays, reviews of books, movies, games (I'd love to hear about the treatment of mental illness in games - just a few lines about a specific game or character is fine. We could collect a whole bunch of these), some thoughts about this thread (I'd love to put together some kind of history of this thread with you guys), a specific post, or a specific member (I'll be writing some little micro-tributes to many of you, describing what some of your posts have meant to me), interviews (I might try to put the relationship roundtable [still working on making that happen] in here), short stories, and on and on.
And PLEASE do not pass on this opportunity because English is not your first language (looking at you, RionnaM!). I'm not sure I've read a post in here yet that made me go, "Man, this dude's English is really bad!" And we can totally work together to edit your submissions and iron out any little tricky stupid English stuff.
Maybe it's the Pristiq withdrawal or maybe it's the Wellbutrin, but I'm sleepy all the time. I thought Wellbutrin would give me more energy? Instead, it seems like half an hour after taking it, I want to just sleep. I've been sleepy all of yesterday afternoon up until now. Fuck this.
I feel that when it comes to such a thing and all things being equal, you just pick one and gogogo~!
I have made many of such decisions, and though each one could be full of regret, the other decisions could just as well have been too and maybe I just naturally regret everything. If that's the case for me and the case for you, then it's probably that nothing's an inherently terrible path and you just do the things you do.
Even floundering a bit and running in circles.. not so bad in the grander scheme of things (something I also do plenty of)! So long as you can enjoy yourself somehow due to whatever you choose or in spite of whatever you choose, it's enough.
I only have an idea of what the decision might be faced with, but I think either way is okay. It just depends on what you want to envision for yourself in the future and who the person you want to be is. And besides that, you don't totally have to make it NOW, do you?
Just like being lost in any situation, calm down and keep yourself grounded and oriented to where you are right now.That's the thing...I lost my vision for the future and I'm unsure what the hell am I doing now....It's scaring me to the point of tears that I just can't see in front of me any longer....
Maybe it's the Pristiq withdrawal or maybe it's the Wellbutrin, but I'm sleepy all the time. I thought Wellbutrin would give me more energy? Instead, it seems like half an hour after taking it, I want to just sleep. I've been sleepy all of yesterday afternoon up until now. Fuck this.
Edit: Pretty sure it's just me being too tired to function but I just noticed the date. Seems like it was yesterday it was New Years and I was hoping this year would be better. Now it's a month until my birthday and I don't even want to live to see it. Time, fuck off.
Life is not about luck, is about effort and enthusiasmNo luck in life love anything.
I just need the courage to jump in front of a trainLife is not about luck, is about effort and enthusiasm
No, you don't have to do that. You just have to plan your life and make it realI just need the courage to jump in front of a train
Life is evilNo, you don't have to do that. You just have to plan your life and make it real
One thing I notice is that you can only prove the reality of how you're feeling now.
Thanks, but I don't believe it. I AM a horrible person. I WILL NEVER fall in love. And I don't deserve to.Accept your depressive thoughts for what they are. Temporary depressive thoughts.
You don't know it right now, but what Piano and I are saying is literally THE key to overcoming anxiety/depression. Think of it as a magic trick that you don't understand now, but eventually you'll be like "holy shit, that's how it works".
You win the fight against anxiety/depression by not fighting. See how backwards that sounds? That's the reason it's such a foreign concept to most people the first time they hear it. Fighting keeps you sick. When you stop fighting, and just let go of your thoughts, you win.
When I say "fighting", I mean engaging these thoughts/worries. A negative or worrisome thought arises, and the depressive/anxious person engages the thought. What if it's true? What if I am a horrible person?!? What if I really will never fall in love?!?
The person who wins responds to those thoughts with taking a deep breath and "That's OK. It's just my anxious brain at work again". Accept that you're prone to this type of thinking, and it's OK. With time the more you stop engaging those thoughts, and digging a deeper hole, the more easily you can emerge from them, feeling at ease. Thoughts only mean something if you allow them to mean something.
Eventually you'll be able to brush negative/worrisome thoughts off your shoulder like a fly that just landed there for a moment.
You're a smart girl, you are. Those tips look useful, but they're not for me. There's no way back now, no way of ever having a sane mind, of being happy and living a good life. I'm getting old and time already passed by.Woah, I haven't been in here in a while. I've been having all sorts of things to sort out and try to organize.. which is my Achilles Heel in life.. .____.
Organization and planning and not procrastinating and responsibility and MONEY gives me anxiety galore. Blaaaaaaah... Even organizing myself to send out mail is hassle, which is silly really, but you try to make the breakaway whenever there's an opening and things will get done.
So I'm working on tackling one or two tasks at a time.. It's slowly progressing!
I will echo what BruiserBear and Piano and Locke are saying.
There's an overall strategy to dealing with intrusive negative thoughts. Some people will tell you to just be blindly optimistic and fight them, but honestly, i think for most people with depression or anxiety, or a combination of those issues, you will lose too much energy fighting all the time. You have to pick and choose your battles.
QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO PICKING YOUR BATTLES PRAX STYLE:
When to fight feelings and thoughts tooth and nail and say "NO! NOT GONNA DO IT. THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE. SIT DOWN AND READ OR SURF GAF.":
- When your life depends on it and you are literally going to harm yourself or cause yourself death because your thoughts compell you to
- When you are at the brink of endangering someone else's safety out of anger or confusion (and not self-preservation)
When to just let thoughts flow through you like the meandering things they are and say "yah ok whatever, maybe I should go make a myself a snack or take a run. How's the weather today? Maybe a walk? Should I be doing a chore right now?":
- Most other times, especially if they are repetitive because who wants to listen to nagging or read through spam mail anyway lol
When to look more closely at thoughts and say "Hmm.. this is interesting, maybe..":
- When they inspire you
- When they give you new ideas and new perspectives
- When they give you hope
A person with depression will have a brain that gives you all sorts of thoughts, most of them negative. Who knows why (I am not a neurologist, but lets say that it inhibits brain communication and then your brain is just stuck on a negative loop path because it's the path of least resistance for it). Not all of those thoughts is worth the emotional investment, just like not all your messed up dreams if you have them, mean anything at all. They are part of random brain neuron firings that you automatically try to make sense of or look for deeper meanings and patterns because you're human and that's what humans do, but let's just try to take them for what they are: kind of random and illogical most of the time.
You are a strong person. These thoughts you may feel are too strong or overpowering and are chipping away at you, but you have it in yourself to heal and choose to not actively engage with them. It takes practice and patience with yourself, and it could take years and the help of some drugs if they are TOO intrusive and you need to give your brain a level playing field, but it's attainable. Think of it as mental spam going to your favourite mental account. You are trying to apply spam filters to that.
The next step is thought redirection. You might not have the energy to do this yet because you aren't efficient yet to picking and choosing battles with yourself, but when you do, that's when you can take a negative thought, analyze it more on a objective scale, and decide the best action to take.
Most of your negative or recurring thoughts will not give you any direction. They just say things that may or may not be true and you feel some sort of expectation to make a conclusion out of them and act on it. The truth is you don't have to do anything with those thoughts because they are kind of random and almost computer-generated anyway, and you got your own things you'd rather work on instead. So when they come up, you can rewrite it in a the way that will give you somewhere to go.
For example: "I am useless and I do nothing right and I always will be, why bother trying"
Redirection: "Even though I feel like this, I have been able to learn to read and write and I somehow managed to survive thus far. Something is going right even though it's hard to admit! I want to accomplish [goal], and the next thing I should do is [task]."
You accept your feelings when they come up but rewrite your narrative and then give yourself a direction to go.
Eventually you will get used to this and it will be more reflexive. I know it's difficult and I still have trouble with it, but it gets better the more you do it!
If you feel like it, maybe you could shoot me a PM. I'm willing to listen to whoever needs it.Wouldn't mind having someone to talk to for a bit. Time continues to slip away fast while I continue to do nothing and not made any progress as to what the hell I'm going to do with my life. It has been 16 months since I've had an occupation of any kind, it's pathetic, and I know others around me think the same.
Even if somehow I did end up with something good I would probably still screw it up by being a socially inept mess that's unable to maintain any motivation. The way things are just now feels like I can either continue on and achieve nothing, or just do anything to keep me busy and most likely become even more depressed like everything else has done my whole life. I just don't see any good way to go right now.
Slowly preparing myself mentally now. Scared of failure.
I love this thread. It's one of the few things that make me feel less alone. Maybe one day I'll share my story. It just makes me feel so stupid, and like such an asshole. Maybe one day.
Slowly preparing myself mentally now. Scared of failure.
Text me back instead.
I love this thread. It's one of the few things that make me feel less alone. Maybe one day I'll share my story. It just makes me feel so stupid, and like such an asshole. Maybe one day.
I don't know you, but chances are you aren't as an asshole you think you are. Depression makes me feel like an ass as well, but people tell me I'm not...It's just the illness. Try not to believe in it.
If you ever do share your story, we'll be interested and listen.
See, you say you're horrible, yet you offer to help people even when you're at what is possibly your lowest? Is that really a trait of a horrible person? (Answer: no)Thanks, but I don't believe it. I AM a horrible person. I WILL NEVER fall in love. And I don't deserve to.
Today I had one of my lowest lows in a long time. A couple of days more like this and... well, I'd still do nothing because I'm the biggest coward in the universe and would never gather the courage to off myself.
But right now I wish I would. I don't want to keep living this life, if this is how it's gonna be till the very end. Such a coward.
You're a smart girl, you are. Those tips look useful, but they're not for me. There's no way back now, no way of ever having a sane mind, of being happy and living a good life. I'm getting old and time already passed by.
As Pink Floyd once said, one day I found 10 years had gotten behind me. No one told me when to run, and I missed the starting gun. And as The Alan Parsons Project also added, I still got it all left to do, and I know that the chance has gone by.
So I may be able to hold off the depressive thoughts for a while. But they will keep coming back, and I won't be able to do it forever. I just wish I had at least one talent, one redeeming quality to assure me I'm not a waste of food, water and air, to feel like I can do something well. But there's simply none. No good thing ever comes from me, and similarly no good thing happens to me (and there's no reason why they should).
If you feel like it, maybe you could shoot me a PM. I'm willing to listen to whoever needs it.
What are you talking about? Other people's replies make me worried.Slowly preparing myself mentally now. Scared of failure.
It always makes me so happy to know that this thread helps people.I love this thread. It's one of the few things that make me feel less alone. Maybe one day I'll share my story. It just makes me feel so stupid, and like such an asshole. Maybe one day.
You'd be surprised at how much it just talking about something can help.I love this thread. It's one of the few things that make me feel less alone. Maybe one day I'll share my story. It just makes me feel so stupid, and like such an asshole. Maybe one day.
Failed at life. So pissed off today I smashed my iPhone and pretty much considering trashing my room. Today would be a good day to die
No, you cant die anytime soon, you are a valuable person just get over thisFailed at life. So pissed off today I smashed my iPhone and pretty much considering trashing my room. Today would be a good day to die