^ You have to want to though, that's the tricky bit. I literally woke up one day, decided I was fed up with being fed up and went for it. That's not really going to happen just because someone tells you to try it though. I've always been into throwing myself in the deep end so saying yes rather than no to anything no matter how ridiculous suited my psyche and the situations that got me into (not all good!) amused me.
I had a dreadful phone call last week from a friend in our MG club ............" Hi Cam - can't make it tonight - I've just heard that my 22 year old grandson has committed suicide - I was only speaking to him an hour or two before he died ........." It was terrible as he broke down in tears . Just shows you never know how people are feeling - my own son was on the brink 2 years ago after his wife chucked him out - he is OK now that he realises that he is better off without her!!
Thanks for starting this thread @paradox Something possibly helpful from my experience is that if you try counselling and find it doesn't work for you, try another therapist, maybe with a different specialism. I found 2 out of 7 worthwhile....
I believe that a positive thing to come out of lock down is peoples willingness to be open and honest about their mental health. For me, I have suffered with severe PTSD for over 20 years. I had a motorbike accident in 2002 (my bike and I parted company at around 85mph, I went through the central reservation of the A308 dual carriageway, bounced across the road and miraculously, wasn't hit by any of the cars coming towards me at 70mph, and I landed in a ditch). I have no memory of the period after the accident but I was conscious and talking to those around me. Among the injuries, I suffered severe concussion that lasted for nearly a week. I struggled to reconcile how I survived the accident and for a long time afterwards, I would spend a lot of time crying and wishing I had died in the accident. Mrs M showed me so much love and patience when I was at my lowest and in the very dark place. With counselling, I was able to come to terms with what happened and started to live my life again. All too often, I can drift back to the very dark place and there are no specific triggers that cause it. Mrs M is able to spot when I'm heading down that path and holds my hand (figure of speech) so that I know that I'm not alone. There are things that help - walking the dogs is the best one as focusing on the two furry faced monsters tends to detract from everything else. I know that my mental health issues can never be cured - I simply live with it and take each day as it comes.
A Like doesn’t seem appropriate for your post, but what a read, you was very lucky to survive that accident. Hats off to you for sharing the ups and downs of it, all the best to you, not for a speedy recovery but for staying positive throughout.
Exactly that, I would not be able to open up in such depth, it takes quite a lot of emotion and in a sense courage. Gets my respect.
I had a pretty bad ‘off’ on my mountain bike. It wasn’t the two broken bones in my arm which made me depressed. It was where I wasn’t wearing a helmet. I went over the bars, put my arms out to stop me, then came down on my head. I was unconscious for 3 days and when I came out of it, I was pretty screwed up. I was remembering really bad stuff that had happened to me, years ago, that I simply forgot about. The dr told me the explanation was for awakening things I have put in the ‘secret place’ in your brain, likened it to your mind being like a filing cabinet, and your memories all stored in there in alphabetical order. Then someone comes along and tips it up. Your brain scrambles all the memories together and throws them back in, in any order. And you remember things which you wouldn’t normally, hence feeling sad. You may not remember the ‘actual’ incident, but you remember the ‘feels’. After a while, I have learned to ignore them, by thinking of something else, whether it’s something silly, or something I have accomplished. ( you can probably tell this by my posts, sometimes). All the best, Para.
Omg thank you everyone i thought i was alone im having a really bad time mentally at the moment never felt like this before only for a short period before. I’m going to the doctors to seek help as everything I try and do it doesn’t seem to work I have a terrible can’t be arsed attitude
Your not alone mate I hope the doctors can point you in the direction of some help that works for you
That terrible ‘can’t be arsed’ attitude, has been cropping up in a lot of people I have spoken too, lately. I feel like that, sometimes. I put it down to having too much to/or want to do, but not knowing where to start, so nothing gets done. Do you feel like that? If so, sit down and just write a list. It won’t be so confusing then. Might be a confidence thing, too. Just sayin’. Good luck.
This helps for me. My head is absolutely full of things that need doing, things I want to do, things I think I should be doing, a bit of FOMO… it’s a bit of a jumble most of the time and the same lethargy and CBA creeps in too often (and not helped by the doom scroll either). Most Saturdays in our house start with a list and it does help me gain that bit of focus to get on. Could help…? Good luck as well
Not really… that came from a sideline in started drawing nice pics of VWs and selling them under the name Lazy Daze. The name has become a bit of a paradox as I’m often busy doing something (but have those low spots where the motivation escapes me). The name paradox was already taken when I joined the forum