I am new here.

[Lila13]

I am a mother of two children and I have a great guy with whom I share my life with....however, I struggle with depression.
My name is Lila and I have suffered from depression for my entire life, it seems. I have coped somehow throughout it all, managing through some severe depressions and then just living with an overall sense of dispair the rest of the time.
Lately though, I have been having a tougher time than usual.
I stumbled across this website and thought I would give it a try.
Perhaps, I can meet some people here with whom I can reach out to or help out myself, with one thing in common, this terrible thing called depression.

[Eric0620]

Hi Lila! Pleased to meet you --- my name is Eric, I'm 42, and I have fought depression since the early 1980's. I have two children, too, ages 8 and 5 and am happily married.

Glad you found this website so we can give support and understanding of what you are going through. We all understand it so well, and will be happy to help however we can.

Again, nice to meet you and hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,
Eric

[Lila13]

Hi Eric,
Thanks for taking the time to write to me. I appreciate it a great deal.
I realize that I am really at a loss to know what to write here. I have never been a member of an online support group and I am now finding myself extremely shy about it.
I guess I will take a look around the site and see if I can feel a little more relaxed with opening up about myself.
I am hyper critical of myself and I guess I am worried about feeling judged here....or worse than that, ignored or passed by, somehow.
Again Eric, thanks for saying hello and introducing yourself.
Lila

[Obayan]

Hi lila. I'm glad you found this place. It's full of really great people who truely do care a lot. I look forward to getting to know you hon.

[Lila13]

Thanks so much Obayan. I don't quite know where to go on this site to connect with people. I have stumbled into the chatroom a couple of times this evening but I have no clue what to write to connect with anyone, it seems so intimidating. There are so many people that are talking with each other and I just don't get it.
Do you have any suggestions of how I can get started connecting with people on this site, Obayan?

[Obayan]

Talking here is a good start. In the chatroom, sometimes it's good to just read for a bit to get the idea of how things go there. And yes it can get busy and a comment get overlooked. Just keep trying hon. We'll get you there.

[FloZo]

My name is Flo, I am nearly 30, single. I have periodic episodes of depression, usually connected with study, work, and relationships with my family. I work in a conservative industry where being open about depression is not an option, and with a family who, while loving and supportive, I find difficult to talk with about my feelings.

I find that my depressive episodes creep up on me slowly, and they manifest themselves in an inability to focus and concentrate and a lack of care about what I am doing. This, of course, is fatal in my profession, and I was once asked to leave a job where I had performed very badly indeed. I don't blame it on the depression, but rather my inability to recognise how bad things had got.

I got on this forum because I had thought that I had managed to sort myself out last year, that I was managing and recognising where my focus was wavering, until it emerged quite spectacularly that it wasn't, when I stuffed up a job that I was doing for my mother.

It was quite a shock for me, and all the feelings from the last year have come back, of worthlessness, of inability to cope, or inability to make things better.

I wanted to say hello, to offer my experiences, such as they are to anyone, and to ask for any hints or tips that others may have.

Flo

[Eric0620]

Hi Lila,

You're quite welcome, and again, I'm pleased to be in touch with you. Coming to this website was the first time, for me too, to join any type of support "system", and I've found that it is a system where you and I and every here can feel completely at ease. It's ok if you feel a little/very shy about it, but I can honestly say that I've never seen any type of unfriendliness nor "judging", etc. going on here. Since you are hurting, please don't hold anything back --- you will honestly be doing yourself a favor. I'm extremely self-critical, too, so I completely understand your feelings about that. I've posted some pretty graphic things about myself here, but I've seen posts by others that make mine seem pretty mild --- a lot of hurting people from all over are here. It is NOT about who hurts more, but it's all about giving support to each other here, regardless of the degree of pain --- there is pain and we all want to surround those who hurt with support and compassion.

I don't want to speak/suggest more than I should, but I'm thinking that the "Your Story" link in these forums is more or less a main one to use, but all of them are good.

Take care. Liza, and talk to you later!

Sincerely,
Eric

[Lila13]

Thanks again Obayan and Eric...your welcoming to this site is appreciated. Flo, it's so nice to meet you too, so to speak;) I will write back soon....my daughter is crying and needs my attention...
Lila

[Obayan]

We each have our own pain. It doesn't matter whether it's been 1 year or 50. It doesn't matter how old you are. Pain is devastating. And no one person's pain is more important or less important than anyone else’s. We are all valuable and we all matter.

[FloZo]

Oppps!

Apologies Lila for clogging up your thread - I hadn't realised that each person posts an individual one instead of putting introductions onto a large thread.

Sorry!

[Obayan]

No worries flozo. We all make mistakes sometimes hon.