Depression

[Kage]

Depression is overwhelming. I failed at my 4 week challenge. We got the dog. He made things worse for both of us. He's staying with my parents while we decide if it's best for him for us to keep him. I'm back at a place where doing anything whatsoever feels impossible. I hate this feeling. I'm considering medication. I need friends, but I'm bad with people. I need activities, but depression saps my interests and energy levels dry. I just want to lie there with a planket over my head and pretend the world doesn't exist.

 

I don't know what to do. I need another challenge. I need to succeed at something. *Squirm*

[Broba Fett]

You're not alone.  I suffer from depression as well and I can tell you the best thing I've ever done is go see a professional and eventually go on a daily medication to help regulate things.

 

Some days I still feel like sleeping for a week and not showing my face in public.  It happens less and less though.

 

How has the dog made things worse?  Not well trained?

 

I highly suggest you tackle things head-on and make your depression a focus for your next challenge.  Maybe make it a goal to look up a therapist and make an appt, or (if you have a therapist already) make regular appointments for the duration, or buy and read a book on how to work through things, or try meditation to clear your mind, etc.

 

Either way, when you get a new challenge going shoot me the link and I'll do my best to follow along.

[zeroh13]

Yeah, depression really sucks. I've failed a couple challenges myself cause of it. Everything will be going okay, and then I'll completely disappear for a bit.

 

What helped for me when I respawned was to take a few steps back and try to find all the reasons WHY I failed. And then I came up with ways to address them. And then used those strategies to come up with a really easy challenge that I could find success with, so I could carry the momentum over into the next (only slightly harder) challenge.

 

I agree with Broba Fett's suggestions on dealing with it. My last challenge one of my goals was to make an appointment with a psychiatrist to see about getting back on ADHD meds. It was something that I had been meaning to do for months. But "not good with people" + social anxiety = "I'll think about making an appointment... later". When I made it an important part of my challenge however, it finally got done. (BUT I made it so that if I wasn't able to get an appointment, I wouldn't fail my challenge. I just wouldn't get a high score. For me, that was important because it was such a difficult task that I honestly didn't know if I could pull if off or not. And it was more important to have a successful challenge.)

[rketterman]

I am dealing with depression now more than ever.  It has hit me hard.  I found that the stresses from my job were just starting to pile up so I quit last week (I start another job on monday).  I'm not thrilled about the new job but it's a company I worked for before and they are good people. 

 

I have just recently started to feel that it's ok to talk about it.  I was medicated years ago and had some issues with the medication I was on.  My doctor put me on anxiety medicine that I could take as needed instead and the job that I just left I wasn't allowed to take it (being a controlled substance and what-not) so the stresses kept building up.  I have a great support system but I'm considering medication  as well. 

 

I came back to NF because of the goals.  I actually joined the NF Academy.  I thought that if I spent my hard earned money on something I would probably stick to it better.  So far so good.  The main reason for coming back to NF though is because I can set goals for myself and check them off.  This shows progress and it's easy for me to see that things are going somewhere. 

 

Know this...if you need someone to talk to just message me.  Sometimes that all I need is to talk. 

[ThisMissisup2nogood]

Depression is one of the scariest monsters out there. For me I find that really, really small changes are the only thing that works. If I try a grand scheme I don't complete it and it crushes the miniscule reserve of self confidence I had built up.

 

Tiny, doable things that you can accomplish, no matter how ridiculously small, will help. For big goals, try to break them down into little tasks that you can complete every day. At least you know you're moving toward your goal and are being productive.

 

Medication does work for many people as does counseling. Never did the trick for me and medication almost killed me dead, but be mindful, try to track your brain and find what's best for you personally. This site is full of really cool, supportive nerds who are always here if you need to talk about it.