Depression Supporters Support Group
This community is dedicated to spouses, children, relatives, co-workers and others who are actively supporting someone suffering from depression or other serious mental illness. Depression can bring about intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive, which can have a grave impact on the ability of others trying to help.
hi. apparently im depressed and im neglecting all the things that i should be doing like exercise. i am not in the mood to do anything. i keep on watching the interview of rhonda byrne (author of the secret) on oprah.i am trying to cheer myself up but all i wanna do is to sleep all day. the only thing that i did which is positive was to take a bath. i gave up on a career because of anxiety issues. i just cant do it. i also have memory problems and sometimes i keep on checking the things that im doing. i want to have a business because i believe that it is better.rather than working with people and working with a boss. the only reason why i want to take up culinary arts was, i think its the only thing that i could do. cooking is somewhat easy for me. i am not crazy over it but i think it is something that i could do. though i'm torn if im going to enroll in a school with on the job training. that way i will be able to learn more. but stress. i'm not very good at stress. i know the kitchen is stressful. but there is an option to enroll in a school without the on the job training. if i feel like i choose this it wil be limited. but i have anxiety and stress issues. my father said i am fragile. =( which should i choose? did u ever feel ur life or the things that you could do is limited because of depression and anxiety?
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Hi All.... It's great to see all of the new people joining the site... I'm loving it!!...smileI'm not sure if people are aware that if you don't have Bipolar Disorder but have a loved one who has the disorder we do have a board for people to go to in order to share their experiences and seek friendship, support or adviseIt's the Friends and Family of Bipolar Board.... I hope you'll take a...
What works for is to break things down into the smallest step I can manage and celebrate anything that I can do with ease. You took a bath? AWESOME! AMAZING! Can you hear the applause? You totally did and that was SO important! (I know, it's goofy, but if you can get yourself to believe it, it works)
And because you were strong enough to get clean, what else could you possibly do today? How about try a new recipe? Whoa! TWO things to celebrate?! You're on top of the world!
And life skills take work. I used to be paralyzed with anxiety about talking to people...it used to take me two weeks to call the library to renew my library books. But you know what? I did it. And the world didn't explode, and I didn't melt from fear. And the next time around, I made that call after a week of fretting. And now, after years of practice, most days I can just pick up the phone and dial! How cool is that?!
So what if you can't handle stress right now? You can practice and get better at it. I had a lot of trouble being around people, and now I am completely calm about 90% of the time.
Everything is a skill...talking to people is a skill, cooking is a skill, staying calm is a skill...all these things can be learned and you can get better at it as long as you practice!
I've been practicing for 10 years and now I've got a pretty good career. Sometimes I still get overwhelmed by anxiety and depression and I get stuck for a while, but I have coping skills and a therapist to help. And sometimes I regret not being farther ahead in my life, but you know what? This is totally better than being paralyzed with a phone in my hand and overdue library books :)
Next...no matter how down in the dumps we fill, we do not sleep all day. Why? Because if we sleep all day, we do not sleep at night...and a screwed up sleep pattern is Depressions best friend. It doesn't matter if you have to prop yourself up in a chair in front of the TV with toothpicks holding your eyelids open, do not sleep. Beds are for sleeping, and since we're not sleeping we don't need to be in our bed during the day. Go sit in your favorite chair, lounge on the couch, whatever, just stay out of the bed. Trust me you do not want to screw up your sleep schedule! Try to find things on TV that either A. Make you laugh or B. Make you feel good. Other things to do, log on to a Support Group and get some support, Word puzzles to wake up your brain, adult color books they wake up the brain, get the creative juices going and are fun. Read a Gossip magazine, just for the heck of it. The point here is to do things each day to get your brain out of the funk and let it start waking up. The more you put funny, enjoyable, calm, fun things into it, the harder it is for it to be depressed. And your still taking your 2 walks. Pick flowers along the way, smell them, enjoy the scenery.
Next, your body and brain need food. I know you don't want to eat, tough do it anyway. Small amounts of whatever you like. A handful or 2 of dry cereal, crackers, an apple or banana, yogurt simple things until you feel up to cooking a meal. Drink water and a soda or tea for some caffeine.
Now we've got you up, out of the bed, doing easy activities in the family room, taking small walks, eating small snacks/meals. Time to clean up. Every other day or so shower or take a long hot bath with nice bath salts or bubbles, you deserve it. Repeat that to yourself, I deserve it!
So now we talk about the part of your post that was a giant Oxymoron. You have major Stress and Anxiety Issues. You also talk about working in a Kitchen or Restaurant as a Chef or Cook. Being a Chef/Cook is the most Stressful/Anxiety ridden job there is. It is constantly high paced, very Stressful and causes more Anxiety than certain Military posts. Now if you can't handle Stress and Anxiety you need to find something else that you love and consider studying it. Because it's not the studying of Cooking that is Stressful, its the working as one that gets you, and to waste all that time studying and learning and wasting money, when you can't handle the actual job or work....it just doesn't make much sense. The least stressful cooking job I can think of would be a Private Professional Chef or perhaps a little Tea Shop/Cafe Cook. The same thing would be for running your own business. You've got that one backwards. Running a business, being responsible for employees and their livelihoods, being responsible for payroll, taxes, government accountability, Accounting, Inventory, etc. is very Stressful. Working for a company where all you have to worry about is your little part, whatever your job is, generally not so stressful. So you need to search your soul and think of something you really enjoy that isn't stressful. See that's where I messed up, lol, I'm what they call a High Functioning BiPolar, I've got 3 Degrees & a Sub Specialty Certificate. I love University, I could have been a Professional Student if that wouldn't have been a Degree plan. My problem was I never stopped to pick a low stress Career, all of my mine are stressful, so I've learned when advising others, I make sure and advise them to try and think of what they love and what to do that's not so stressful. If I could go back and do it again, I'd run a Greenhouse, because I love Flowers and Gardening. LOL Instead I've a Degree in Computer Science, Accounting, a Ph.d in Clinical Psychology and a Certificate in Paralegal.....it's like a Bouquet of Stressful Careers! Don't make that mistake....plus I get bored easy and then want to do something else.
Just take a little time and think about what you really, really like to do and see if you can come up with something that doesn't make you anxious and isn't a stressful atmosphere to work in.
Okay so now that I've wrote you a book, I'll leave you be. I do wish you well, and I know you can beat this and make it on your way to what work you'd really like to do. If you need a friend just message me, I'm usually around. Take care.