When I was in rehab I was forced to take several classes on depression, it's causes, and how to combat it
in short:
1. exercise
2. eat healthy
3. find spiritual health
just do those three things and you WILL feel better...doing those 3 things can do absolute magic, has been shown to cure serious issues like schizophrenia even.
it might not take care of your depression completely but it will without question help you...it has pretty much been proven to
Best advice I could give you is instead of distracting yourself and avoiding it just pinpoint whats wrong and defeat it.
Most of it is your mind playing tricks on you.
Focus on what you have and not on what you don't have.
Remember that life is too short to have pity for yourself.
If you lost confidence, look in the mirror and just tell yourself you are the man.
Work out like everyone else mentioned,meet new people,try to smile even if it doesn't feel right you are releasing happy chemicals other known as endorphin's.
Last but not least: Goodluck we are all rooting for you, ISH got your back, If you need someone to Pm and talk to hit me up.
One more thing: STAY AWAY from Drugs and ever prescribed drugs.
You are stronger than that!!1
Last edited by PullupJay : 08-13-2012 at 09:22 PM.
I think what is really bothering me is not being in a serious relationship. I have always had a desire to get married and have kids. I'm a family-man type of guy. But I just haven't met the one yet and that's killing me inside. Especially when you see married couples that were once happy and now all they do is moan and complain about each other. They have no idea how lucky they are to have someone who truly cares about them.
Things like working out will help as many suggested because it releases endorphins and can make you feel like you are doing something productive to better yourself. However, what you are describing in the part I quoted above indicates to me that there are some deeper life value issues going on that working out may not solve, thus my advice would be to seek some professional help. It sounds like you have been feeling this way for a while and trying things out on your own hasn't quite worked out recently, so seeing a therapist may open your eyes to something more significant.
I have done a lot of volunteering. Like I said, I spent part of my summer in the Dominican Republic. I helped families with medical needs. It was awesome. I have also done stuff in Detroit. A couple of weeks ago me and my friend drove around in my Jeep handing out lunch bags of food and a nice cold beer along with extra military rain ponchos he had from the Marines. That stuff is great and all but then I immediately get that depressing feeling again.
I think what is really bothering me is not being in a serious relationship. I have always had a desire to get married and have kids. I'm a family-man type of guy. But I just haven't met the one yet and that's killing me inside. Especially when you see married couples that were once happy and now all they do is moan and complain about each other. They have no idea how lucky they are to have someone who truly cares about them.
You will find the one you love and who loves you back, it is just a matter of time. Stay positive and have confident in yourself are the tools to help you find the "one". As many have stated, exercising is a great way to relieve your stress. At times, hit up your friends and go out to the bars to meet new people; you will be surprise with the people you find in the bars. Have faith, my friend.
Fear is relative to the ends you project. You're afraid. You're anxious. You lack stability. You probably feel hopeless. There is no sense of fairness or justice in life. It's natural to feel that there are little to no options available.
That's why you need to find a different end to your means of living. You need a goal to offset the ends that you have projected for yourself.
Essentially, it boils down to communicating w/ the world. Are you able to communicate effectively? Does your system work? If not, you need to rebuild from scratch.
What do I mean by that? Well, you have a computer, access to films/tv/games/etc, and money to fund your recent weight gain. You have too many options and too much input from the world with little to no output back. As a result, you're overburdened by your options/choices rather than free from them.
I'd say that you need to pull a Batman Begins and just disappear for a little while. Dedicate yourself to becoming the Batman....or in other words, a symbol that you believe in. So you say you like helping people. Well, randomly leave lunch bags for the homeless w/ a logo you designed (or w/ a group you joined up with's logo). Donate $500 with your logo next to it to your favorite charity/investment. Start running and lifting weights. Then, work your way up. Let people know that they don't have to suffer like you're suffering.
People will always find hope in symbols. Pretty soon your actions become your end and you're not as worried about how you go out but as how you're living. Then, you'll start feeling less anxious and more content with living. Then, life will start feeling awkward. Then, you don't have to worry about forcing your way into a relationship. You'll be much more stable.
how old are you by the way? 21-24? people go through this phase during that age where there perspective of the world gets very real, and it can be depressing, but as you get older you learn to be happier.
a study shows that people are the most depressed and unhappy in there early 20s, and from there they just get happier and happier with there life. Its just a phase in your life. find ways to better yourself, dont get sloppy and gain weight and become pathetic.
ive went through this phase myself, went through a bad breakup and i dealt with the emotions through alcoholism, but im alot better now and am very sober and content and excited for my own future.
And Joshmitsu, what did you study in college? You always drop some knowledge on shit like this.
I'm still in college and I'm sucking at it.
My heroes are Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Faulkner, Kierkegaard, and Virginia Woolf. I really don't know anything. I just steal sh*t from books and movies and share it with everyone else.
Last edited by Joshumitsu : 08-13-2012 at 09:43 PM.
a new instrument, hobby, sport. stick with it. let it consume large chunks of your days. eventually you'll start to meet people with those similar interests. it will give you a new outlook on life imo, I did that.
Best thing to do when your suffering from signs of depression before it gets too critical, is completely make yourself useful. Such usefulness can include being busy, with homework from college, spending extra time completing the work to get a better grade, meeting new friends. Whether it's friends from college your going to make or your work place.
This can be an opportunity to meet new people, start new and fresh with proper encounters that can lead to relationships with females. Don't get into a relationship if your looking for love though, more of companionship. Take it slow, then see where things go before you fall to hard and get hurt and become an alcoholic.
Life gets depressing, we've all experienced it, we all will face it, just adapt to it and learn to let it be a strength rather than a weakness.
Man, if y'all are going to give worthless advice, please keep it at one line, like me, instead of writing paragraph after paragraph of uselessness that waste OP's time.
I first became depressed when I was 16. It was a surreal feeling. Had no interests, always feeling hopeless, was very anti social, had no idea why I was feeling like this. I'm 21 now and I feel 100x happier now then I did when I was 16, I was in a VERY dark place. My advice is go out and socially interact with other people, we all need to connect with other people in order to feel stable. Also going to the gym helps, it really is a stress reliever.
I think becoming depressed at such a young age matured me alot and it also made me sympathize with other people when they are going through a rough time.
Re: Struggling with Depression
