I'm just going to post this here because I don't want anyone in real life to know. But I've been sincerely thinking about killing myself the last couple weeks, and reading that suicide thread in OT made me give pause(To how). I'm not sure about how I would go about it, but I'm not scared. I've thought about it in the past and talked to my parents, therapists, friends; and they all told me the usual. So it's nothing that I haven't heard before.
My plan is to honestly just give it 6 more months from January and see how it goes. I'm not sure how many of you know me or ever interacted with me on GAF when I was more active. But I've gone through a lot of silly things and have persisted. Because I always was told that things improved and that I just had to be more outgoing, be more in shape, be more rich, etc, etc. But despite all of those things, I have learned that if people like you, they will like you for you. That all my past jealousy about why X girl was with Y guy, was not about race, his car, his wallet or anything else. That she just liked him. That my struggles academically were because I wasn't focused, not because I was less intelligent. That my weight had to do with using food as coping with life, instead of actually being hungry.
And so I did a lot of self reflection and grew tremendously as a person in my life. Things did improve, true. But I'm still living the same empty life. And that's why I'm just so exhausted now with it all. Because it seems that I'm stuck in a continuous cycle of ups and downs regarding my dreams and aspirations. The things that I want, I never get. If it's for me, if it's school, work, working out, etc. It gets done and done very well. But if it's with other people, it's just constant failure. And I really beat myself up over it in the past, because I felt that it was my fault. That I didn't smile enough, talk enough, go out enough, etc. And even though I changed and forced my personality to change, the only times I ever felt wanted, was when I was acting. Be it "acting black" and having people laugh, "Acting cool" and attracting a girl...I just can't ever be me. Quite, calm, witty, giving...I just get called a pushover, weak, unmanly, soft...The other week my manager railed on me for something trivial and used it as leverage to attack me personally. He ended up looking like an idiot and our district manager telling him to apologize. But it really cut me deep though as I thought we had a good working relationship, then he just assaulted me on a personal level in front of other people. And he doesn't even know me outside of work. I'm so tired of people expecting me to live up to their stereotypes or expectations, then when I don't, they just walk away from me. I'm a human being!
The short of it is this. For the next 6 months, I will give it another push and just try my best to be me. But during this time, I'm going to work a lot more at my job and make a lot of money. I'm going to pay what little bills I have, sell my stuff and set aside a nice chunk of money for my family and for my parents. I owe them that much at least. As I said before, I'm not sure how I'll do it, but I think that giving myself this time, will clear that up. I don't know what's going on to be honest, but I'm just tired of this life. It's just not for me. I thought about joining the military, traveling, or giving my life to a certain cause. But all of those things are just me giving my life to something in order to live. It wouldn't be any different than now anyway. Frankly, I wish that I could give my "life" to someone that needs it, but that's impossible. I'm not sure why I said this, GAF has always been kind to me, I'm not looking to be talked out of it. As I said, I've heard it all before. But I dunno...I guess I just needed to talk.
Crush, I don't know all of what I'm want to say here as I'm coming mostly off the top of my head, but I want to preface it by saying that my aim is not to come across as accusatory or judgmental. So if I do, apologies.
I want to say that I hear you man. I've never really discussed it here (at least, not in this thread), but I've considered suicide several times over the last two years and several more times in my life. I read your words and I relate. The same sense of doubt, the constant criticizing yourself, the feeling that you're stuck and life is empty, the rejection of advice because "you've heard it all before," the same feeling that there is something broken at your core. So I don't begrudge you for feeling like it's too much and just wanting to get it all over with. Because who wants to live when it feels like it's just always raining with no chance of seeing the sun?
That said, I'm glad you're giving it six months. Because I don't think suicide is the answer, and I believe the fact that you're holding off to see what happens means you aren't convinced it is either. Which means there is some hope there. I'm going to join those encouraging you to seek some professional help. I know you say you've done therapy already, so you may be hesitant. However, a good trained professional is going to do more for you than any of us on Gaf. So I would advise giving it another chance, if you can.
That said, what can I help you with? I don't really have much in the way of advice. I do not know you personally, and even if I did, I'm not you. I don't know your life or your mind as well as you do, so what works for me may not work for you. Also, if you're anything like me, I know any advice I give atm is likely going to sound like bullshit.
That said, the best I can do is give you my perspective and how I deal as someone going through something similar. A little background on me: graduated from college two years ago and my life came to a halt. Couldn't find work, social life evaporated, spent most of my days in my room hating myself. Ended 2013 landing an internship at Zenimax Games, was fired a month later, fast forward to now and I'm working retail and only just figuring out what I want to do with my life. I've struggled with low self-esteem, social anxiety, and depression since I was a teenager, maybe even a little before. Even today, I struggle with thinking I'm not smart enough, strong enough, good enough to deserve anything in life. I criticize myself in social situations. I think I'm ugly a lot of the time (I can clean up pretty well, tho). I've never even kissed a girl (so hey, you're doing better than me there lol), let alone been in a relationship with one. Fear and anger and loneliness and bitterness and self-loathing defined my "normal" for so long.
What helps me in dealing with all that is changing my perspective. Trying as hard as I can to redefine my idea of "normal" and unlearn so much of how I see the world. That's key to everything really. I wake up everyday and try to challenge my thoughts on everything: myself, people, the world, emotions, concepts, whatever. Learning to see things, if not in a more positive light, then at least in one that doesn't cause me so much pain. The biggest one was redefining what I think happiness is. I used to see it this thing that should be constant; "I should be happy all the time, and if I am not, then there is something wrong with me. Then I am weak and broken." Instead, I've begun to think of happiness as I do all other emotions: as something fleeting and brought on by outside stimuli. I changed my goal from being "happy" to simply being "well." To getting to a place where I don't feel like everyday is struggle just to
be so that if I am happy, I can at least appreciate it.
Like JWILL said, sometimes you have to let things go. Even things you're told you should want. I too decided to let go of the idea of being in a relationship when I thought about how I'm not in one, it caused me this incredible pain that brought all my insecurities bubbling to the surface. Letting go of that freed me to be a little more positive, to think a little differently.
If you want to be you, you have to be you
defiantly, I think. Which is hard, I know. Because it seems like there's always parts of you that you can't share because of how it affects others. Because you fear they'll reject you and its suffocating when you just know if they understood, they would act differently. But I came to a place where I'm willing to risk it just to breathe. Even with people I love. My best friend is someone I love and admire deeply, but she doesn't always get me, and while I try to be understanding, more and more I have to make the call to put my mental and emotional health over hers. To be me defiantly, even if I run the risk of making her (or anyone else) uneasy. Because people will box you in and keep you there.
I know I'm making this all sound easy, but I know it's not. These are all very recent revelations and everyday is a fight (though some are easier than others). I just know that ultimately, the answers have to come from you. You're not hopeless; by the sheer virtue of the fact that you're here talking to us, I'd guess you have some hope. But any answers you come up with have to come from some change in how you see things. I wish I could tell you exactly what to do because I hate to think you're out there suffering, but I can't really. All I can tell you is I hope you don't reach the end of your six months and decide that it's not worth it anymore.
Anyway, I hope this has been some help. Again, I don't really have any great advice, just my experiences and perspective. I hope you see better days. I'm here if you need me.