Depression Support Group
Depression is a real and debilitating condition that is often misunderstood by family and friends. Its meaning can range from a prolonged period of sadness to an actual mental illness with specific symptoms. Find and share experiences with others who are going through the same struggles.
I've made a lot of good decisions recently. I've learned from other people around me. Now this feels like I have made it finally, that I have pushed him out of my life for good and this bad dream that he was is finally over. Objectively speaking this is very good.
I have this theory that during my life I will actually die many times. I die every time I accept something that breaks my heart and my heart broke often. It still makes me sad but change is inevitable. Change is good. I've been finding other stories of people with abusive ex-boyfriends on the internet. It makes me feel less alone and it gives me hope. If other people can be empowered and raise their voice, then I don't need to be embarrassed by what happened either. Once I've realized this isn't a special thing that just happened to me but is in fact something that has happened to many many people, my whole outlook has changed. Maybe one day I can help people like me. I wish I could change the world to prevent such things from happening all together. Just for the sake of trying to change the world I might never stop thinking about this. But what if that keeps me depressed and makes me suffer more without helping anything?
Facts may be that this isn't a world where everyone will get a chance to thrive.
I would also like to change the world and make it a better place. Not many people get a chance to do that, so I have narrowed my scope to my community. (This s a vague term, basically it means the people I interact with.) I think that this helps keep me from getting more depressed.
I get angry reading about coaches and trainers who abuse their Olympic athletes, but I was able to help coach my children's teams and made sure that all the children were properly treated. I got involved in the organization and was able to expand that to other teams.
I guess that is the secret; bite off a small enough piece that you can make a difference, but make it a big enough one so that "more people" benefit.
We all get to change our definition of what thrive means. Our daughter had ADHD, and it took all of us (her, my wife and I, our son, and our extended family) time to learn how to deal with it. As part of that process I found an online support group for parents dealing with ADD (this was LONG before DS was created). IN that process we learned to celebrate our successes without worrying about how others defined success. One example, a mom had a child with serious issues who would throw poop all over the bathroom. For her, success was a day without a poop mess to clean up. And we celebrated it with her on our forum.
NOt saying that your life is a poop throwing mess, but my own personal experience is that I get happier when I define my own successes rather than let others do it for me. ANd don't even get me started with how TV commercials try to tell me I'm a failure unless I buy their products.
Sorry to wander and ramble, thank you for sharing your success!
Gentle hugs and warm praise!
I pray that you will have your heart’s desires to help others and you will be a blessing to many people especially to those who are in need. God bless.