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For months I struggled with depression hardly knowing what I was going through…
For the most part I knew that I was often anxious and I had this empty feeling that I just wanted to go away.
I am a very pessimistic person, which means that I still am… I worry about the simplest things – sometimes within my subconscious.
Maybe I have always been this way. I remember being in high school… I couldn’t go through a weekend having not looked over what I had done in class all week without feeling worried that something could go wrong. For one, I cared deeply about my school work but I was a little on the extreme. I studied, it may not have always been the best approach but I had a weird attachment to books. It was very natural for me to run though my notebook or I would just end up starting another week feeling some struggle or disappointment. Too bad, I’m now in my adult years and I’m beginning to realize that it’s not just the books; I really have an overbearing fear of failure which gives way to occasional panic attacks.
It’s that feeling you get when you think that you have not done enough or there has got to be something else to do… that restless feeling.
Every day I have been in the habit of reading a chapter or so from a book, running through a Spanish lesson or doing some form of workout. If I have something planned, I immediately get to it but if I procrastinate, I begin to develop anxiety.
But there are those days when I feel so down that I can’t get to anything and quite frankly, it makes matters worse.
I develop a feeling of guilt, worthlessness and helplessness. I have difficulty concentrating, remembering details and making decisions.
When I was 20 years old I was diagnosed with major depression. It was really hard for me to sleep at nights – it still is. If you knock at my door at 3am in the morning I’ll probably answer it immediately. I started medication and for some time it helped but the true antidote were the things that I do when I am feeling down or when I begin to have negative thoughts. I write poems, I paint and I take photographs.
But that doesn’t mean that life eventually became perfect and my depression went away. These things don’t really cure ‘losing my family’, ‘being jobless’ or ‘homophobia’ so the only thing that has really changed is that I have developed better coping skills. I don’t have as many suicidal thoughts as before and I feel a bit more interested in my hobbies and life altogether.
Now and then I have a rough day and I sleep it out; I try not to get into the negative thinking. But I have to admit, it can be hard at times… if that doesn’t work I turn to my music, if that doesn’t work, I take a walk… I just keep trying.
Check out these uplifting stories:
http://www.adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/personal-stories/all-stories/7
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I’s always hard to not get consumed in negative thinking.. there should really be a class on dealing with that. There honestly is a thin line between being depressed and just having an emotionally and physically draining few days. I think a lot of people actually go undiagnosed because they don’t know when to consider help or when to consider their behavior .. symptoms.
I love your approach to things and how you use your experiences to grow.. you ultimately find meaning in them and learn. I too have this great fear of failing… it hasnt been as prevalent or disruptive in my life since I do not take so many chances anymore. I’m lost in my comfort right now, so nothing is really making me fearful… but once something does, I freak out from time to time. My coping skills have improved a lot since Ive grown up but man ol man, the thought kind of makes me sick lol
That’s right Valrie, having access to a class that works for young adults who struggle with negative thoughts is a great way forward.
‘One on one’ counseling helps but being able to connect with people who share similar struggles, say in a classroom setting, is a brilliant idea.
My counselor once told me that once the negative thoughts come in play I should think about everything that is positive about the particular situation, and let go of the things I can’t change… and it really works.
Sometimes negative experiences in our past is what prevents us from being optimistic but I choose to make the good days last.
I also think that once you are able to deal with the ‘little things’ it will make your depression, depending on the diagnosis and root cause, less severe.
‘Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” Willie Nelson.