Commentary from December 7, 2015
This is a kind of a recap of several separate strips but it’s important to show how many of these strips link together. The first one deals with that constant feeling of loss — you can lose someone or something, but that feeling of loss that accompanies it never seems to go away. It’s related to the next panel that deals with failure that you can’t seem to escape. The third panel shows how you go about reinforcing the negativity. Why do we do this? Who knows? But I wish I could shut it off, because even when I find happier moments these habits tend to take away the shine.
Artistically I didn’t realize I was off model until someone mistook her for the freckled girlfriend character. I’ll have to do some character sheets or something to ensure that I don’t stray off target and make sure that the two characters look a lot more different. Wait, maybe they’re sisters. Who knows, with the lack of identity I’ve given these characters anything is possible.
Artistically I didn’t realize I was off model until someone mistook her for the freckled girlfriend character. I’ll have to do some character sheets or something to ensure that I don’t stray off target and make sure that the two characters look a lot more different. Wait, maybe they’re sisters. Who knows, with the lack of identity I’ve given these characters anything is possible.
What’s even worse? I’m scared to stop thinking like this, for fear of being even MORE selfish and inconsiderate than I already am.
I get it. I’m the same way. I had a headstart with Catholic guilt. No one can be harder on us than us
Giving an advise on this is like giving that Monopoly money…
But for me it’s like accepting I’m a failure and was a failure and will be a failure and since I accept that then why should I stress about it? I did stupid things, I will do them again. Deal with it, other people. Deal with it, my inner self.
yep, I do this all the time….
Hits home. This is my life.
I feel the exact same way.
This. Is me. To a T. All of it captured in one four panel.
Yep.
I’ve done this all my life
2009? Try 1987! ?
I was going to say 1974!
Mine start in 1968……….
I’ve been here – spent most of my life here in fact. One thing that helped me A LOT… thinking statistically. I used to apply negative terms to myself based on just a handful of – or even a single – actions. But instead of thinking of just those times that I’ve been – for example – selfish, I also remember that there are times when I’m not selfish (times I have made time/money/emotional sacrifices for others, times I’ve supported a friend or stranger…) and it comes down to percentages. Yes, sometimes I act selfishly (everyone does), but it’s maybe 20% of the time. The majority of the time, I am NOT selfish. Mean? The instances in which j have been mean really stuck in my mind, but when I think of all the interactions throughout my life, I am much more often kind than mean and then maybe sometimes I’m just neutral. Still difficult for me to make a blanket statement that I am unselfish and kind, but I am now able to say “I am GENERALLY kind/unselfish/smart/good mom…” and so on, all the way through the faults I used to list off day after day.
Holy fuck. Of all the comics you have ever done. None hits me closer to home that this. Never………..
I’ll hit some thought about something dumb from thirty years ago and I’ll spontaneously say, or yell. “I SUCK!” I’ve tried to stop and focus on the cause every single time, and realize it for what it is, it can help, but not very much and not very often.
Having been there, 1931 to 1945, I let you know it’s provenance.
This…is painfully relevant right now.
Medication
I wish… I was on Prozac and it was great…then it just stopped working…and I was on Effexor, but it gave me horrible side-effects that are still happening even almost a year later. Dreading even trying anything else especially when I can’t even be sure it’ll work.
Every day
Something to focus on and repeat; a name and a face works wonders for me.
I’m grateful for all your wonderful, thoughtful comments. Please keep them coming.
8 Things People With Hidden Depression Do
http://everydayhealths.info/8-things-people-with-hidden-depression-do/
Nothing I can add, other than that I have done this my entire life and I don’t know how to stop. I end up believing the negative thoughts.
? depression comix #267 https://t.co/FYrPUDxkFg This is a kind of a recap of several… https://t.co/k004JLJr7B
I’ve heard that people with eidetic memory find it to be more of a curse than a blessing. Being able to recall with perfect clarity every stupid, thoughtless, or mean thing you’ve ever done or that anyone has ever done to you is a kind of hell.
People with depression tend to remember the negative and forget the positive, while those without it tend to do the opposite. If only there were a simple way to switch from one to the other.
6 Tips To Help You Overcome Anxiety & Depression Without Using Drugs
http://everydayhealths.info/6-tips-to-help-you-overcome-anxiety-depression-without-using-drugs/
I have been doing this since I was 9 years old. Really wish I could find a way to make it stop. While it is a relief to know I am not alone, I still feel guilty for finding relief in other people suffering the way I am.
One thing I found helpful: Gratitude. Asking myself “what am I grateful for today?” and scanning my memories of the day. It takes me a while to come up with anything, since my mind keeps coming up with negatives first, and sometimes it’s just “I eventually made it out of bed today”, but it adds up.
Medication. I am not kidding. It saved my life. The ‘thoughts’ are still there but they are put on mute. Then you can start to move forward and fight a WINNING battle.
Medication, therapy, mindfulness meditation, exercise, regular sleep schedule, gratitude exercises, journaling… all of it, as much of the time as I can manage. [And you can’t start doing everything at once.] You don’t forcibly silence the negative thoughts, just give yourself space to step outside them and look at them analytically. Sometimes that lets you break the cycle, sometimes it lets you dial the negative response back in proportion to the negative event or perception that triggered it.
And yes, it’s work and it takes energy. Depression is part of you – that negative cycle uses the same creative and intellectual tools that you bring to every other kind of thinking. Part of the trick is to work on building up the other kinds of thinking. Replacing “never” and “always” with “sometimes” and “maybe” in your inner voice is an exercise that’s worth a try.