Stop being a Sad sack!

[Paper Tiger]

I have seen a lot of posts which basically boil down to "woe is me, I am but a wretch".I was a sad sack for a really long time. I thought "I'll never have friends, or a girlfriend, nobody would like me because I'm so different/shy/fat" and then, it hit me: the only person stopping me from having a happy life is ME. My doubts were destroying my life. So one day I stopped being a sad sack and I became me, Peter Trenton(PT, Paper Tiger, get it?) The first step is the absolute hardest thing I have ever done. I went on a diet and started exercising. Then I started associating more with aquaintences until they became friends. I met a lot of people I had stuff in common with. After a year I had lost 70 pounds and was at about 200 pounds, mostly muscle(not bad, considering I'm 6 feet 4 inches tall) and women began flocking to me because they saw how confident I was and how comfortable I was with my own body. My first girlfriend asked me out. That was five years ago. I now have several good friends and have dated several beautiful women. To all those in a funk who believe that their lives will never improve, follow my example. Take the initiative. No one can Improve your life but you. It's cliche but, Quitters never win and winners never quit.

[CharlesF]

I agree. And, now that the new year is approaching, it may be a good time for some of you sad sacks to quickly do away with your bad feelings and follow PTs example. I also started dieting and lost about 30 pounds. I stopped aquainting myself with other sad sacks. I started meeting more women. Life is good.

 

By the way PT, where did you get the picture of the paper tiger?

[Psylocke]

I agree with this 100% but it's not an easy task by far and not all "depressed" people are able to do this type of thing. There are times you will fall off the 'happy wagon' and there will be steps backwards. We are not all chemically the same either so it may be impossible for some without medications. But that's ok too because whatever helps people feel more normal and lead an improved lifestyle I'm all for it.

 

It's darn near frightening to make sweeping changes in your life. I am in the middle of this same exact process.. weight loss, more friends, getting out of the house, new (much more positive) job and atmosphere. I have changed for the better IMO but I still have a lot of work to do. I take baby steps to improvement.

[CharlesF]

I agree, it is never too late to make sweeping changes and suddenly be a different person. Feeling bad about it is a waste of time.

[Paper Tiger]

It's not easy at all at first, I had several false starts, but I finally managed to get the ball rolling.

 

 

 

 

By the way PT, where did you get the picture of the paper tiger?

 

I just googled "origami tigers"

[TooBroken]

I think when you're IN depression, its difficult to have the motivation to make changes or allow yourself to be cheered up by positive talk. Its a terrible place that you're kinda locked into and you feel equally powerless to get out of it all the same. I have great respect for the people that find it within themselves to "get the ball rolling" but I equally understand how others might find the process all too difficult.

[Paper Tiger]

I have been clinically depressed my entire life, and medication was not an option because they had adverse affects on me (violence, increased suicidal thoughts). I guess the only way to really "get the ball rolling" is to find the inner strength to beat back your depression forcefully. I'm weird, so I always imagined my struggle with depression as me being a knight with a shield and sword fighting a giant demon named "depression". we would go back and forth, sometimes I lost ground, sometimes I gained ground, but I never won. But one day I took all the courage I had, and I hurled my sword with all my might and got him right through the heart. His ghost haunts me occasionally, but I know he will never be a serious problem again... I guess I'm just rambling.

[scarew]

I've been where you are paper tiger. This is in NO way meant to be depressing. I am just telling my little sad sack story. I was SO much better for a while. I went from a sad sack to one of those "confident girls". It was awesome. Then I gto pregnant. The hormones are unbearable for me. I am in as big a rut as I was when I was a teenager. I feel out of control and like nothing can make me happy.

 

Even though I have picked myself up before, I don't know how I am going to do it again. I guess, as you did, lifestyle or situational changes help. I really need for us to move out of our current house before baby comes. I think that would help me get a fresh start. Right now I am literally, all the way back to hating my life. I never thought I would visit this again.

[AntiLove_SuperStar]

yes, I felt like that.

 

So I lost over 50lbs, changed my wardrobe/outlook/social life/college courses.

 

Oh look, I'm still unhappy!

 

I admire your sentiment, but I "have it all" and I'm the most depressive SOAB for at least a ten mile radius.

 

Sure, you should try self-help. But, honestly, even when you have friends/a partner/love/an education/supportive family (as I do)...yo ucan still feel lousy, professional help doesn't work, so what then?

[Paper Tiger]

even when you have friends/a partner/love/an education/supportive family (as I do)...yo ucan still feel lousy, professional help doesn't work, so what then?

 

True those are the things most people believe is all they need to make them happy, but when they get them they still feel unfulfilled. You must think long and hard about what you really want. If you still do not feel happy after getting everything you wanted, that is a sign of clinical depression which may require medication and therapy. I've been there with the depression, but I had to get over it once I started my internship at a hospital. Nobody wants a doctor who is weeping in the fetal position in the corner.

[AntiLove_SuperStar]

Depression makes me want nothing, really, except a quick nice death. Apologies for being brutal. I hate my past, I'm not happy in the present and I have no desire for a future as such.

 

My next plan is to just distract myself.

[Paper Tiger]

Depression makes me want nothing, really, except a quick nice death. Apologies for being brutal. I hate my past, I'm not happy in the present and I have no desire for a future as such.

 

My next plan is to just distract myself.

 

Can I get a psych consult here? oh yeah, you're not in my hospital... I see so much suffering, so much pain, so much death every day of my life that it saddens me greatly when someone doesn't appreciate life.