I think I'm Bi-polar.....

P.C. · Mar 02 06 12:26

Oh thank you weird al......you said everything I was trying to say, but you said it SO much better.

I think it would be a tragedy to let a bright mind and spirit stagnate all for shame or embarassment.

Sportsdude · Mar 02 06 12:27

Well I one thing I good at is reading people and understanding people but my biggest fault is not being able to understand myself.

weird al · Mar 02 06 12:30

Thanks P.C. Yeah, let's fix this guy up right now!

Sportsdude · Mar 02 06 12:34

keep giving suggestions. I got to go to work. (thats another whole can of worms we can talk about later, I'm a giant book with many pages and chapters that make me who I am some good, some bad and, some that are stomach turning.) Anyway see you later.

weird al · Mar 02 06 12:37

Well jeez, now he's gone and split on us. Oh well, I wanted to talk about lululemon anyway.

P.C. · Mar 02 06 12:38

G'night sportsdude....take care.

weird al....if you were a member, I'd give you a big ol' blessing.

weird al · Mar 02 06 12:40

Aw, shucks! Thanks again. Any way, registration is coming

P.C. · Mar 02 06 12:42

Get on it, weird al...lol. You're a good 'un. What's the hold up

weird al · Mar 02 06 12:45

Procrastination mostly.

P.C. · Mar 02 06 12:50

LOL....I hear ya....that's my specialty. As a matter of fact, I needed to be in bed 2 hours ago, I'm on it. Good night weird al.[img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/c010.gif" border=0]

weird al · Mar 02 06 12:51

Goodnight, P.C.

primefactor · Mar 02 06 07:52

Sportsdude wrote:
[span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"]I have no emotions anymore except for my breakdowns. I don't cry, don't care if someone dies, don't care, period.[/span]

I am not being flip when I say that one thing which might help enormously would be spending some time working to make life better for people whose lives are far worse than yours. Seriously. You may say you don't have the energy. Or that you don't care. But your posts (in all subjects) tell a different story.

You are not apathetic. You DO care, very passionately, about a lot of things. But your caring could be redirected to subjects which would give immediate results to both you and those you help.

And when I say "working to make life better for people whose lives are far worse than yours," I don't mean from a distance. Not collecting signatures for ballot measures, or canvassing for a cause, or sponsoring a Romanian orphan. I mean up close and personal, in your community.

Walk away from an hour tutoring a kid in the ghetto with his homework, and instead of bemoaning the state of the public school system, you're doing something about it. And making a friend. And changing a life.

Two lives. Yours too. Just think about it.

P.C. · Mar 02 06 08:31

That's very good advice primefactor. But I think with various forms of depression, your ability to see the rationale in that is there, but the where-with-all to DO it, isn't. It isn't just that it's 'hard to do'....it's almost like being stuck in a catatonic stupor, and it's almost an impossibity.....you just can't.

Too often we think depression can be handled by simply saying 'shake it off'...... and if it were that simple, depression wouldn't be so crippling.

Your words hold a lot of value, but a person with depression has to somehow get to that level before they can implement those ideas.

Sportsdude · Mar 02 06 08:55

Thats what my mom keeps telling me. I'm old enough now that I can actually work at habit for humanity now. I used to work at a hospital volunteering. Would go about 4 times a week. Got to be good friends with the nurses and talked to the other volunteers about life who were active in their 60's and 70's. The problem is that was before my problem's started to snowball and now I'm to ashamed to go.

primefactor · Mar 02 06 08:57

P.C. wrote:
[span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"]a person with depression has to somehow get to that level before they can implement those ideas.[/span]

I agree, and would never suggest that someone just Shake It Off unless they were just being a whiner. I believe that it is important to do SOMETHING, to act, to force yourself to take any small step in any direction other than down. One must at least try, or else the downward spiral simply continues unarrested.

Anything that breaks the pattern may open the door enough of a crack to see some light. And because helping one's self is very difficult with depression, because of the feelings of apathy, worthlessness, and self-loathing, often the act of helping others, even if it feels forced or fake, can take you out of that place for brief enough periods to offer hope.

So often people who have given up will still rally to help a fallen stranger. Many a person who has decided, during some sort of catastrophe, to lie down and die, will see another who is not going to make it and put in a last push to save them, thus saving themselves...