by Trethowan » Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:23 pm
I used to be suicidal. I liked to wallow in my own self-pity and negative feelings in a downward spiral of self-imposed despair. I was emo before it became a fashion statement. I was all about death and despair and I wrote crappy teen angst poems about being miserable and dying and how cool Emily Dickinson was. Not anymore. I'm generally cheerful, content, and at peace. I have the occasional moody spats and I'm still quite sarcastic and grouchy about the things I'm a grouch about, but I'm not sad all the time.
Back in the day, call them the turbulent 20s, I typically cycled back and forth between hard-core numbing depression and fake euphoria trying to make myself feel something. I wasn't bipolar, I just tried too hard to feel good through silly behaviour that seemed like a manic episode. I was in full control of my faculties though, so no excuses. I tried anti-depressants but it just made things worse. The problem wasn't chemicals misfiring in my brain, it was just all the issues that I needed to sort out. I had a people-pleasing problem, was desperate for outside validation for my value as a human being, grew up with a verbally abusive, controlling, manipulative father, my mother was an emotional vegetable (completely disconnected) and I didn't understand my own emotions and other assorted minor issues. So, how was I to deal with all of that?
Once I sorted out things I had a major breakthrough. I never saw a professional, I just did it on my own. I wish I had sought out a counselor though, someone to help ask the hard questions and steer me toward a faster conclusion. Maybe that's why I've become a counselor now. I like helping people. A lot of it had to do with my development as a Christian, trying to figure out the religion thing versus relationship with Christ thing. I never quite got into the tradition of religion because southern-style Christianity, especially in the 80s, seemed terribly restrictive and not very biblical. It always felt like a social club and the women were just as back-stabbing and catty in church as anywhere else. I never saw much of Christ in the youth groups my parents stuck me in. I liked Jesus though and the gospel message so that took some sorting out. I can't live another day was replaced by I can do all things through Christ. Thinking about death and blowing the back of my skull out was replaced by the "think on these things" of Phil 4:8. So I soldiered through it.
As for depression, in my case most of it seemed to be guilt, anger, and un-dealt-with issues. As that stuff started peeling away I started looking at what I was angry at, why, what I felt guilty for and why, and handled it one little bit at a time. Purged the false guilt, owned up to the earned guilt, and just handled it one bit at a time. I was serious about dealing with my issues around 2001 and in 2006 I had a serious breakthrough on the suicidal thoughts front. I haven't thought those thoughts since 06. It's been a while and I'm quite glad that chapter is behind me.
Most of the guilt was because of selfishness and I knew better, not accepting responsibilities then feeling bad about it later. Instead of playing the blame game and blaming everyone else I started owning up to stuff myself. Do right, think right, feel right. No excuses. No blame-shifting. Own it. I can own my behaviour. I can't own what others do to me but I can own my reactions. I can control how I respond. That's my life motto and it works for me. I feel better when I think and act better. When I accept responsibility and when I focus my thoughts on right things. Instead of wallowing in negative self-pity I redirected focus to helping others worse off than me. It helped a LOT to get my head out of my own rear-end and to focus on serving others above myself. It's just something I work hard on, have to stay focused on. Generally when I start feeling depression-type feelings I stop and look at my life and see what's out of whack. Am I eating right and getting proper nutrients, what am I feeling guilty for, what am I angry about, how can I handle it in a positive way? The answers generally present themselves and I deal with it. I like to stay "apologized-up" (ha) with everyone, make sure I'm on good standing in all my relationships. Don't let the sun go down on my anger, that sort of thing. Keep each day in itself and I try not to over-extend myself. Control my schedule, stress, etc.
I still have my monthly crying spells and those will probably get worse as I get older. I mean, come on. I'm 36. Menopause is just 5 or 6 years away if I'm anything like my mother. :-p I'm not looking forward to hot flashes. *cry* :-p