Who am I? I am me.

[Gav]

Hey Friends, My name is Gav and I'm currently recovering from depression and manage living with a Health Anxiety.  I say currently because I know I will beat this as I have before. The latest depression was caused (I'm pretty sure) on New Year’s Day when I found a deceased person behind my work (sorry if this causes anyone anxiety) and I pretty much shook it off as I wanted to make sure my staff were OK and they had access to work counseling if needed.  What I didn't do was get support for myself.  Through the months my mood got worse, found no pleasures in anything and the another common symptoms of depression. 

Just jumping back a bit, my Anxiety goes back about 13 years and I have been hospitalised a few times, gone through a gazillion Dr’s, psych’s and other health professionals.  This didn’t need to happen like this but I was not accepting what I was being told and was uninformed about what was really happening.  Not accepting the support didn’t do well for me and found myself doing self-harm, wanting to sit in a corner afraid of some physical health issue that wasn’t there but going to kill me anyway, and wanting to just die to end the mental suffering.  A very strange paradox indeed 😉

Now is a lot different.  I seek and accept support from health professional, family and friends, I’ve done a lot of self study on mental health (the science behind it) which I share and discuss with my psychologist and others. Being proactive, taking those hard steps and being honest is allowing my inner light to slowly get brighter (I can live with slow because that’s how it is).  Sure there will be times I may take a step back but accepting this as not a personal failure makes the forward steps so much easier to do.

I don’t really have any point about sharing my shortened story (*shakes fist at 500 word limit*) except a few vital tips I’ve learned:

1. Never be afraid to seek support. You are not, or ever will be a burden to anyone and no-one will judge you for doing so.
2. Know there are people out there going through similar things so you are not alone on this planet us much as it feels like you are.

I hope I can contribute on the forums based on personal experiences of my own and people I have met. I enjoy putting smiles on faces and just listening if that’s all that’s needed.

Take care,
Gav

p.s. only 429 words ... I win!