I know "It Gets Better" is probably trademarked, but something like it would be great. One of the things that got me hooked to the show is hearing people with mental illness whose lives are okay. A board where people could write about how things have gotten better for them, even in little ways, would be amazing.
I am personally terrified that I will never be able to support myself and that I won't find someone who loves me. I don't know anyone intimately where I live, I only make $400 a month at a part time job, I struggle daily with depression and anxiety, and after being homeless for a few months last year I am constantly terrified that I will lose the very few things I have (my dog, my car, and the small room I currently live out of)at a moments notice. To hear that someone has been in a position like mine and now has someone who deeply loves them, a stable job, and a home would be of immense help to me.
An It Gets Better Board?
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bigeekgirl
- Posts: 402
- Joined: December 9th, 2012, 9:17 pm
- Gender: female
- Issues: depression/anxiety. co-dependence, disordered eating/using food to cope
- preferred pronoun: she
- Location: South Carolina
Re: An It Gets Better Board?
That is a wonderful idea.
I imagine a lot of people have stories to share. For me, I often find myself explaining to people "my life has not always been as it is now" because it's weird to be only about four years from having lost everything. I've rebuilt and my life is more than I dared dream. I sometimes feel isolated because people around me don't really understand where I've come from.
It'll be four years ago on the Monday after the Superbowl, in fact, when my ex-husband left. It was the last straw in a cascade of events leading to my hospitalization for brief reactive psychosis, loosing my apartment, my cats and nearly all my earthly goods outside of a couple suitcases of clothes and some boxes of books. The worst part was ending up back in my parent's house for six months. It did have the silver lining of showing me how NOT safe and stable my childhood was. It was awful enough I moved to the other side of the country where my ex was living with the woman he left to be with even though I was pretty sure I wasn't going to want to be married to him anymore. I rented an apartment site unseen and got on a plane to move somewhere I'd never set foot before. It only took a few months once I got to my new hometown to figure out I didn't even want to be friends with my ex. In the end, He asked me to take him back and I got the painful pleasure of refusing. It was not long after I cut contact entirely. I'd changed and he hadn't.
Flash forward: I got married this past June to the most empathic man I've ever met. We have a good life together. After having been the sole breadwinner almost the entire ten years of my first marriage, it is amazing not to have to pray food and gas will last til payday because there's no money for more of either. I don't like my job, but it's only a small part of my life now because everything else if filled up with goodness where their was only work and depression before. I've taken up hobbies and crafts I always wanted to try. Money helps that, but also support for my interests even if they are "selfish" for me alone. I'm pretty good at cooking, sewing, and other creative activities I'd never had the freedom to explore and it makes me feel like ME. Our apartment is two bedrooms with the second an office/sewing room. I'm still learning how to make a house into a home, but I love doing the little things that make life pleasant. We go on trips (usually to sci-fi conventions) and otherwise do things. Even without all the outer trappings which make my life "sound good" I know I could be happy because I have someone who is my safe and happy place. What challenges we've faced together have shown me the power of good relationships where no one gets blamed when something goes wrong.
I've worked really hard on getting physically, mentally and emotional healthy. It was a journey I began before I met my husband and I don't think we would have worked out if I hadn't already begun. The main thing I did upon being released from the hospital was decide I was going to make changes until things got better. I've started seeing a therapist recently to work on the "inner child" stuff because a better life hasn't cured my anxiety, but made it laser focused on the fact changing what's outside doesn't "fix" my fear, insecurities and self-doubt. I'm really lucky to have ended up with my happy story, but I still have work to do.
It gets better all the time... Keep seeking.
I imagine a lot of people have stories to share. For me, I often find myself explaining to people "my life has not always been as it is now" because it's weird to be only about four years from having lost everything. I've rebuilt and my life is more than I dared dream. I sometimes feel isolated because people around me don't really understand where I've come from.
It'll be four years ago on the Monday after the Superbowl, in fact, when my ex-husband left. It was the last straw in a cascade of events leading to my hospitalization for brief reactive psychosis, loosing my apartment, my cats and nearly all my earthly goods outside of a couple suitcases of clothes and some boxes of books. The worst part was ending up back in my parent's house for six months. It did have the silver lining of showing me how NOT safe and stable my childhood was. It was awful enough I moved to the other side of the country where my ex was living with the woman he left to be with even though I was pretty sure I wasn't going to want to be married to him anymore. I rented an apartment site unseen and got on a plane to move somewhere I'd never set foot before. It only took a few months once I got to my new hometown to figure out I didn't even want to be friends with my ex. In the end, He asked me to take him back and I got the painful pleasure of refusing. It was not long after I cut contact entirely. I'd changed and he hadn't.
Flash forward: I got married this past June to the most empathic man I've ever met. We have a good life together. After having been the sole breadwinner almost the entire ten years of my first marriage, it is amazing not to have to pray food and gas will last til payday because there's no money for more of either. I don't like my job, but it's only a small part of my life now because everything else if filled up with goodness where their was only work and depression before. I've taken up hobbies and crafts I always wanted to try. Money helps that, but also support for my interests even if they are "selfish" for me alone. I'm pretty good at cooking, sewing, and other creative activities I'd never had the freedom to explore and it makes me feel like ME. Our apartment is two bedrooms with the second an office/sewing room. I'm still learning how to make a house into a home, but I love doing the little things that make life pleasant. We go on trips (usually to sci-fi conventions) and otherwise do things. Even without all the outer trappings which make my life "sound good" I know I could be happy because I have someone who is my safe and happy place. What challenges we've faced together have shown me the power of good relationships where no one gets blamed when something goes wrong.
I've worked really hard on getting physically, mentally and emotional healthy. It was a journey I began before I met my husband and I don't think we would have worked out if I hadn't already begun. The main thing I did upon being released from the hospital was decide I was going to make changes until things got better. I've started seeing a therapist recently to work on the "inner child" stuff because a better life hasn't cured my anxiety, but made it laser focused on the fact changing what's outside doesn't "fix" my fear, insecurities and self-doubt. I'm really lucky to have ended up with my happy story, but I still have work to do.
It gets better all the time... Keep seeking.
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Paul Gilmartin
- Posts: 363
- Joined: March 22nd, 2011, 9:54 pm
- Gender: male
- Issues: Depression, Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, Incest Survivor
- preferred pronoun: He
- Location: Los Angeles
- Contact:
Re: An It Gets Better Board?
Great suggestion. I'll create one called "Here's how it got better for me".
Paul
Paul
http://mentalpod.comNothing degrades the quality of my life like obsessing about the quality of my life.