Asklemmy

43790 readers

764 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

For those who aren't burdened with chronic or intermittent depression, how does that feel? (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

When you're lonely, you don't become cripplingly hopeless and withdraw from life? You just contact some friends or easily make new friends and have a good time and carry on with life?

When you're driving your car and everything is fine until you come to a stoplight, you don't suddenly become depressed at the stoplight like I do?

When you wake up every morning, you don't have crippling existential dread? You just get up and go about your day cheerfully, without analyzing the futile meaninglessness of the big picture?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've struggled with depression since childhood. It'll come back, I'm sure. My father told me to remember that everything is cyclical, and I think that's true. I'm in an up time. There will be down times.

As mentioned by others, it's simply the absence of something bad. Although, I'll go on to say that it does feel good, when you know how it feels to feel terrible at every moment. Not having that is, as someone else said, a relief. Like waking up feeling better after having the flu. Life is just life, but at least that shitty thing is gone.

I've spent half my life feeling awful. And even now, without depression, I'm still painfully aware of how completely fucked everything is. It simply isn't my problem, even though it is. I wish you the best.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah that's what has always gotten me through things as well...knowing that there will always be some sort of a change. Sometimes it's a good change and sometimes it's a bad change, but it will change. It's gotten me through some really low periods knowing that it won't be like that forever. I just actually very recently dug my way out of a low period that lasted longer than I would have liked, and I'm doing ok at the moment! But I know at any moment, things could change back. But it's ok. It's just part of the constant changes of life.

I will say what personally helps me is to always be distracted. I've heard some people call this unhealthy, but I disagree. Rumination is the root of my issues, personally. And living in the moment is the best way to happiness. Obviously, you don't want to go absolutely nuts with it and just have hookers and blow 24/7. Living in the moment does not have to be self destructive.

So when I'm able to be distracted by simple things like a cheerful conversation, it really helps. Right now, I'm filling my extra time with a TV show that I've gotten into. So I am able to spend most of my time thinking about and being distracted with that. Rumination is the worst.