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Oh My!!!
I hope things work out for the best for you.
Mental Health Awareness
- Thread starter CjH
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I hope things work out for the best for you.
I hope it all goes ok Nick.
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Dunno if this link works. My mate just sent it to me. I'm lucky to have such mates. However I assume it actually means that's how he is feeling. Gonna call him.
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How brave to go on camera and explain word for word all that. One of our mates is also old bill and he's also got ptsd from too many years of going after kiddy fiddlers and other nasties, had a bloke try to hang himself and our mate stood underneath propping the guy up so as to stop the rope from tightening, stood there over an hour before backup turned up. The guy lived but the toll it took. We know a few details of the stories, and we've seen how he's changed how he's struggling, but he's not the sort to sit and go through it like in the above video. That has given me quite a bit of insight. Thanks for posting it. Makes my own stresses seem trivial by comparison but it does not work like that anyway does it?
My mental health has been pretty low over the winter. I noticed the same last year...I get this feeling of being self-destructive and having low motivation and low self-esteem.
The stress from university doesnt help too although Ive been doing well with my assignments and getting good passes but the low self-esteem doesnt help.
Work wise has been not great...being on a 0 hour contract means that its a struggle to get any hours, especially during the weekdays. Ive had to find a new job but with the 20% tax, I get roughly £8 an hour. Some of the work burnout from the summer remains and I think its time for me to find a new job.
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I'm having ups and downs. Work is my main downer, expected to do 16h days at the drop of a hat for a clueless boss who when I informed him of impending heart and BP issues, said "welcome to 2021". He's a whippersnapper who needs to be taught some compassion, gratitude, basic people skills, and failing that, basic respect.
However I've made a massive effort to sort out diet and exercise, which has helped both physically and mentally, lost 10% of my bodyweight and now close to optimal, mostly by limiting bread, pasta, milk, cheese and training as often as I can where work allows. Has really helped, even though there has been no change in circumstances, and I'm still short on sleep and in constant discomfort, I do feel a bit more on top of it at the moment.
However I've made a massive effort to sort out diet and exercise, which has helped both physically and mentally, lost 10% of my bodyweight and now close to optimal, mostly by limiting bread, pasta, milk, cheese and training as often as I can where work allows. Has really helped, even though there has been no change in circumstances, and I'm still short on sleep and in constant discomfort, I do feel a bit more on top of it at the moment.
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Hey really struggling not going to lie,
downloaded that meet up app months ago and was thinking of going to a meet up for mental health related groups but obviously covid hasn't helped
one of the things I'm struggling is with finding people who can understand and relate, i don't actually know anyone personally with the same mental health issues I have so it makes I very hard when you don't feel like you're being understood
Suppose it's hard as I'm soooo confused that I don't understand myself so how can I expect anyone else to understand you know?
You said you were briefly low, how did you bounce back?
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Great job on bumping this thread. Wish you well with getting out of the low.
Shame to hear of your problems Karl, hope you manage to find a way out of the winter lows (I get them too) and I hope you can find a solution to your work issues.
***
I had the worst day of mental health issues I've possibly had last Saturday for a very long time. I've had some health issues which include acid reflux issues messing up my hearing, also my teeth and gums, but on Saturday I had the worst dental pain I've ever had, which the painkillers were did absolutely nothing towards.
All the things combined and at the peak of the pain, I came close to taking drastic action, and made a post on a guitar forum I post on and someone reached out to put me in touch to speak to a few organizations. One of them was the Samaritans, another is an organization (The Listening Place) who I will meet with for an in person conversation tomorrow.
The person who reached out to me from the other forum, made a few suggestions for things to do, including to make plans (it might sound obvious, but it makes a difference), been doing a few more creative things including playing guitar and doing a bit of writing, they all seem to be making a difference.
I was recommended to make a trip to the dentist as well, which I did. Again something it might seem a bit obvious but sometimes when you can't see past your nose, it's good to get a bit of help and to take it.
Had a few bumps along the way since that terrible Saturday, but I'm in a much better place now but there's a lot more work ahead.
At the moments of great lows, I will try to tell myself they will not last forever, even if it seems impossible. It's something I used to do before, but know I realise the importance of telling myself that more than ever.
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It's very difficult to come across someone else who has the exact same mental health issues, but have you come across anyone else who have some of them? We'll never find someone who has exactly the same experiences we have, but hopefully we can find someone who has the empathy to understand what you are going through to either listen or to provide some assistance.
Understanding your own mind is a difficult thing to do, but even if someone might not understand EVERYTHING, they might understand SOMETHING, and a little often can make more of a difference than you might think.
I presume you have issues with Anxiety, I do as well. A few things I have been taught this week is 'Anxiety is just an emotion, anxiety will not harm physically harm you', at rough times this week, I have been repeating 'Anxiety is just an emotion' almost like a mantra, trying to get my head to stopping running wild. Also, anxiety can occur as from an overactive imagination, your head runs wild on a tangent and blows things out of control, at those times I try to stop thinking about whatever was making me crazy and think about shaving, or a cartoon or music or something, but doing something creative like playing guitar or writing is the best thing, put that overactive imagination to some use.
Send me a PM if there's anything else I can say.
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yea im realistic with being able to relate to people, i just havent come across anyone young asian muslim males who talk about these issues openly?
unfortunately its seen a taboo subject and a weakness to be frank
like an example is some people judge you thinking if youre depressed, down or whatever that you must have 'weak faith', which to me is just absurd
also the biggets slap in your face is when people be like 'ohhh its just in your head' like what the.....
i have generalized anxiety disorder (known as GAD), one of many issues unfortunately,
yea im a deep thinker and yea it has it good moments but i find it to be really bad and can literally really cripple you
suppose stress does weird and wacky stuff to the body, stuff you probably wouldnt have thought of when you were younger in life only till you get older the reality hits home
many thanks mate, likewise you too
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I hope everyone on here feels better soon.
As a sufferer of SAD and depression I know how good people like me are at hiding symptoms from others.
I can feel like shit, meet up with a friend be pretend to be happy as fuck with them and as soon as we part, bang, back to feeling shit again. I hide it a lot with humor, I am always joking.
I know I won't follow my own advice, but don't hide how you are feeling. I have one friend that knows but has been sworn to secrecy, good cunt* will text or pop round if I not been in touch for a few days.
*I'm scottish so cunt is seen as a term of endearment depending on the context.
As a sufferer of SAD and depression I know how good people like me are at hiding symptoms from others.
I can feel like shit, meet up with a friend be pretend to be happy as fuck with them and as soon as we part, bang, back to feeling shit again. I hide it a lot with humor, I am always joking.
I know I won't follow my own advice, but don't hide how you are feeling. I have one friend that knows but has been sworn to secrecy, good cunt* will text or pop round if I not been in touch for a few days.
*I'm scottish so cunt is seen as a term of endearment depending on the context.
How do you deal with SAD?
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I've got a box with daylight bulbs. 5000k and I put it on between about October to February-March for a few hours now and again.
It does make a difference.
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Hello Saj,
I can see what you mean. Like yourself I'm brown as well (I'm second generation Bengali/Indian), 3 years older than you (1982), I'm not Muslim, but from seeing mates of mine who are Muslim but grew up around second gen Pakistani/Bangladeshi communities, I say we have a lot of common ground where depression/showing weakness is a little frowned upon and I'd wager all 'brown' communities are very conservative.
As for the mindset 'you have weak faith', I'm in agreement that is absurd, but with conservative mindsets they aren't always the quickest to change to the modern world, and depression/anxiety have existed since time began but it's only in the last generation dialogues are changing. Progress comes in the smallest incremental gains, and the world is changing but not everyone is changing at the same rate.
I don't know anyone else in my community who has the same mental health issues I do, but I occasionally mention them in conversation to a few people I trust, even if they do not have personal experiences of sharing my troubles they can still provide a little empathy, but I've lost many friends at the same time who I weren't able to speak freely with. It's sad but this happens.
Nonetheless I have tried to speak my mind with others, and sometimes just a PM from a forum can provide more help than I can describe.
I sometimes think we are often taught to look for what makes us different from each other, but I'm coming to learn to appreciate what makes us alike as I have much to learn from those who are different stages of their experiences similar to mine, we can share them and better ourselves, even it it seems difficult or impossible at the time.