Yeah this hurt. When I became homeless I ended up vanishing from everything. Had no Internet access or anything. Was just gone. Always checked in with people. Was there when needed and then I can’t contact anyone for a month. I was worried about my friends and worried they were worried about me and that I couldn’t tell them what was going on.
When I finally got access to the Internet to message people I realized no one had even noticed. No one messaged me asking where I was. No one checked in. No one did anything. I sent a couple people a message like “Hey hows it going?” and they’d respond with the usual. Really didn’t notice I was gone.
I ended up logging back out of all of it. Didn’t login again until a year later when I was in a homeless shelter trying to figure things out.
One person messaged me.
They were asking if I could share Netflix with them.
I deleted my accounts. Have a hard time trusting people and making friends noe not like childhood abuse from my mother made it easy. How do you believe people care when your parents don’t and when the people you loved didnt?
Happy Holidays. I’m spending mine in bed.
I’m really struggling today. Good luck to everybody else at Christmas, I know it’s difficult.
We got your back anonymous Internet friend!
As someone who struggles often with depression (bipolar II), something I find really helpful is the concept that we feed our consciousness like we feed our stomachs. If we put bad food in, our health suffers; and similarly if we consume a lot of media that’s stressful, anxiety inducing, or stuff like horror / reality TV… Unsurprisingly it can plant seeds of anxiety and stress that make stressors in our life more difficult to deal with.
When I find myself getting quite sad I fill my mind with comedy, silly TV shows like What We Do In The Shadows / Parks & Rec / It’s Always Sunny. Or stand-up. Anything that makes me laugh. Do you have any go-to shows that lift your mood?
I don’t really watch shows but I do appreciate the advice.
There’s also an amazing book I found very helpful, by noted Mind Wizard, Derren Brown. It’s just called ‘Happy’. It’s available as an audio book if you don’t enjoy reading… stars off going over why common self help techniques are ineffective, then gets into mental techniques to strengthen our mind and increase our happiness.
I’d say it made me about 25% happier, priceless (literally cause Audible offer one free audio book to new members!Just make sure to cancel within 28 days, you get to keep the audio book)