Musings

There is one right answer when you’re trying to resolve two opposing statements. (Depression is a lot about opposing statements, all being right and true, or all being wrong and false…)

That is, the right answer is the one you can live with.

All is in balance. This life is not made for those who seek the one and only truth. It’s made of hues. Accept it. Then you can build from there.

You need foundation. Start resolving small dualisms. Gain confidence from doing it yourself. Sure, there’s a pile of big uglies waiting for you, but not right now. Choose your battle so you can win. I can tell you from experience, you can win latter battles.

Start winning.

I hope it makes sense. Post a comment if you would like to share an example.

TNT 001

I should…

I should be…

I must…

I must be…

Others have already done…

I should have…

We use such statements every day. We might not speak them, but they are our constant background companions.

They fill us with dread, feeling of great responsibility we cannot satisfy.

So:

Whenever you notice one of such statements use different language.

My goal is to…

My goal is to be…

My goal is to acchieve … what [that specific other] has acchieved.

I can do…

This frees you from overwhelm and you can focus on one step at a time. Be as specific as you can and avoid absolutes like: always, never, everybody, each time…

Towards gaining self-esteem

Thoughts I have occasionally:

I’m such an awful person, it’s better I’d be dead or far away from doing damage.

I’m such a different person than everybody else, I’ve hard time fitting in and I always struggle.

The talk-back:

But yet again, different is not bad, different is good for the mass. I’m on the far side of a Gaussian distribution. We were always told the far side was better than the anonimity of the majority.

If nothing else, the few specimen that are out of the majority are at least good for biological (or sociological) diversity.

So I only need to find my place and use in this world.

The next bout of insidious thoughts:

If I don’t find a use for me, my diversity is for nought.

If I do find my use, but don’t do anything to be useful (like now), then I’m wasting my life. It will be taken from me (aka I’ll get terminally ill).

No conclusion yet:

I know I shouldn’t be thinking in this way, but this line of thoughts pops up a lot. I’m acknowledging it here, but I I’ll yet to think the way out.

Strokes of insight

Depression is like a call for acknowledgement, at least in a way, at least to me.
It’s a bit like “Look at me, I’m depressed, won’t you help me?!”

It’s a cry for help. (By the way, we (I) hide it. So no one actually hears this cry.) Many times, I feel depression as a tantrum. I want someone to notice, someone to see me as I am, to stand beside me and to comfort me. I’m too proud to point it out. Or maybe I believe only if someone noticed by themselves, would it mean they care about me. Then when I notice what I’m doing, I start to hate myself for it.

Most of the time, people don’t notice. This is the first fault in such my behaviour (using depression as a tool for getting attention). And again, one of the reasons I get depressed is not being independent. (Or, what came first, the chicken or the egg?) This is the second fault in my behaviour. I should start to learn to deal with my own problems. There’s nobody to do it for me.

What am I now? Sad? Angry?
I’m mostly satisfied to have analysed this thought.

Dream analisis 4

I’ll be quick (so I thought). No time for deep scrutiny (still true, but…).

A few days ago (maybe a month or more ago*) I dreamt about visiting my former workplace. I met the boss and owner, and one of the superiors (female). Needless to say, I haven’t resolved the relationships with any of them. The owner is a seasoned and experienced man, skilled in business, short in stature but intimidating in his stares.

The boss offered me to come back, the superior was pregnant. Both actions/states uncharacteristic of them.

1. I want and ever wanted the approval. So the boss’ invitation would mean I was okay as a person, as an employee.  It’s probably also about my past colliding with present problems, aka about my present job and my current (stagnant) career. Wouldn’t it be nice someone would suddenly realise you were such a wonderful person and wanted you back? And then you woke up. It sucks, coming back to the real life.

2. I think the superior had issues with me (and others). She was quite ambitious, volunteering for the tasks/projects others were meant for. I think she was a bit jealous when I (the lowly employee) got to be present at the meetings about document computer structure. These meetings were usually for the superiors, but I had shown an interest in folders and the computer program we used. I was a nuisance about organising and stuff, nobody likes someone else’s order imposed on them. The boss started the task delegation by, “I see you’re interested in …” I wanted to disappear. I wasn’t interested, I’m mentally challenged on it. I’ve OCD or something, and it bothers me to the point of pain to see files unorganised. Well, I got the job and was pushed into the shark tank. Not that the job itself was bad. The attention was somewhat bad. And not finishing the job was even worse. I still don’t know whether not finishing was the sole reason I was fired, or the superior said something out of jealousy, or was it the general crisis and I was the last-to-be-hired-the-first-to-be-fired, or was it my non-conformity that sealed it.
So, too long a background.
I’m obviously convinced the superior (I never actually worked under her command) had something to do with my firing. Or so the dream suggests. (Other employees weren’t in the dream).
Maybe, if she had a baby, it would mean she’s like me. Not as uptight and ambitious anymore. In the dream, she was also genuinely happy and nice. And she had her hair dyed light brown, not blond as in the real life. Whatever this means. It was the colour my cousin used for a time.

A thought just passed my mind. I hate myself for dreaming such dreams. For dreaming about what would be nice but isn’t. For trying to fit two beliefs into one – about the belief certain people are bad and about the belief no person is bad.
I try to acknowledge such thoughts, in order to heal from depression. But mostly I hate myself for being in such conflicts. For some other therapy session.

Breathe in, breathe out, tell yourself you’re doing well, you’re doing something, after all.


*I started to write this as soon as I had time after the dream. Unfortunately, my life at present is time-focus-complicated and I completely forgot about it. Today I can’t sleep (although exhausted) and I decided to work. Alay, I found this post, frozen in the edit mode. Bless the WordPress, it still works.

Since some work has been done, and for the record, I’m finishing the post. However, whatever. I love writing.