Hello

[Noggin]

I have been struggling for a long time, I have negative thoughts every single day, I just have this feeling that life is already over.

I have trouble putting my thoughts into words, I'm hoping through reading other people's experiences maybe I'll get the help I need.

Not much of a first post haha 

Hi all

[Ggrand]

Hello Dear Noggin,

A very warm and caring welcome to the forums…

You have come to the right place to get some support and I’m certain that those who come in to talk to you will be kind, caring and very supportive…BB forums are filled with so much reading of people with lived experience, I’m certain you’ll find something that might help you along with the beautiful community members we have here…

I can relate to not being able to put thoughts into words…it can be really hard, especially when first posting here…in time I hope that eases for you…we are all very friendly and non judgmental…

Depression can make us feel like our life is over, but with help you can get well…Im wondering if you’ve spoken to your Dr. about how your feeling and thinking…if needed your Dr. can put you on a mental health care plan….

Noggin, I found for myself that when negative thoughts bombard my Ming, I try to do something that I to do, to distract myself from those thoughts…something that needs a lot of concentration on my part to do….Our minds can only think of one thought at a time…so by distracting those depressive thoughts onto something else that we like, can help us…sure our mind will wonder off what we are doing but I just gentle stop myself and continue onto what I like to do….it takes practice….doesn’t work all the time for me…but I just keep trying the best I can….

Dear Noggin, just search in the search bar..for the topic your looking for..ie: depression, anxiety, PTSD etc…and lots of pages will pop up for you to choose from to read and/or contribute to the threads..

My kindest thoughts Dear Noggin with my care..

Grandy..

[MrGeorge]

Hiya Noggin! my first post ive read back here on beyond blue in over 4 years, and I'll  say absolutely your'e not alone here, struggling with negative thoughts everyday is really difficult, ive been there done that, (i still get that!) i had anxiety and depression on and off for more than 15 years id say, although it definitely got much much worse in 2019-2020 ( though i guess the reason there (pandemic) is kind of obvious haha)

ive never truly been good at giving advice to be honest, but i can 100% relate as well to having trouble putting thoughts, emotions, and feelings into words, its taken me years of practice to get only slightly better at it, but its still something i personally struggle with greatly. the only thing there that has helped me a little bit over the years, is when I'm on long late night drives, i talk out loud to myself in a sort of "car self therapy" .

Even though its just me talking to myself out loud, i found it usually helps ( even if just a little bit ) getting to verbally voice out all my problems, worries, concerns and frustrations,all in the privacy of my own car away from any potentially prying ears.

I'm curious what you mean by feeling like life is already over by the way? these kind of  thoughts i get all the time too, but not necessarily in a depressive way ( well yes kind of) but more in a metaphorical way - as in " life like as we had known it is over" - the insidious rise digital age has terrified me to be honest, i grew up in the 90's where people talked, smiled, interacted, etc! one thing i remember almost everytime i caught a train, weather it was in my home state of vic or interstate , i would somehow get caught in a spirted conversation with passengers sitting next to me, my favourite being me at 20 years old, having an hour long conversation with 2 retired electricians in their 70's on a train from blue mountains to sydney cbd

but if we compare this all to now! - everyone on their smartphones 24/7, qr codes are still everywhere, some places ive worked with even require you to have an app on your "smart phone" to simply get paid...this technology has ingrained itself into everything we do, and its nothing short of a nightmare

but anyway holy cow i got carried away there...ignore that last part, unless that kind of thing interests you, my lifelong wish iv'e still got if time machines existed, would be to send me back to the 70's and let me live out the rest of my life through the 80's, 90's, and 2000's, i recognise some things may be "nostalgia talking", but man i dont think its nostalgia to say life was actually better back then without the excessive technology we have nowdays lol

[Happylife]

Hello Noggin,

I'd like to join others in welcoming you to the forums.

Sorry to hear about your mental health struggles. I am an overthinker myself and tend to become anxious.

These thoughts can create a cycle of negativity which affects our mental health and hinders our ability to go through life effectively.

Is there anything that's causing these negative thoughts? Sometimes it's important to know the root cause and what's triggering them.

Have you tried challenging it and replacing with a positive one? It works for me most of the times. I also try to allow it to flow through my mind without engaging in it, instead of trying to completely stop it. The more we try to stop, the more it comes.

Try to relax and be gentle with yourself.

If it is too overwhelming, please reach out to your GP or mental health professional (if you haven't done so), they can guide you in the right way.

Happy to listen and support...

Take care

Happylife

[therising]

Hi Noggin

Definitely not easy putting our thoughts into words, unless we're in the practice of doing this. As they say 'Practice makes perfect'. So, you could say 'I am entering into the practice of putting my thoughts into words'.

I think there is so much to our thoughts to the point where it can be seriously challenging to make greater sense of them and express them on occasion. Just a handful of the challenges

• When to use a filter and when not to. In other words how/when to modify what we're thinking (before we say it) and how/when to fully express our self openly and honestly
• How to feel our thoughts constructively and how not to feel them (emotionally detach from them when need be)
• How and when to stop suppressing thoughts and feelings, something we may have been conditioned to do. This can especially be the case for a lot of males
• How to manage inner dialogue from aspects of us such as our inner critic, inner stresser, inner pessimist etc (aspects of us that lead us to think/mentally process). Myself, I can relate to how my inner analyst can have me deep in thought for days on end, trying to work out what certain challenges I face a really about

The list goes on because thoughts aren't always simple things and they're not always fleeting. Some can be nagging, some can be tormenting, some can be anxiety inducing, some can be deeply depressing and so on.

I think we can even get to a stage in life where there becomes a need to practice being completely thoughtless. Not everyone's into thoughtless forms of meditation. It actually takes a bit of skill to not think, which is strange when you consider it. After years of conditioning through words such as 'Think before you speak', 'Think before you act', 'Stop being so thoughtless' etc etc, we can in fact be conditioned to never stop thinking and this can eventually become a major problem.

[Jani]

Hi Noggin, 

Though we are on the same boat, I don't think about it everyday, but most of the time. Just so you know you're not alone thinking this way, I do too. From time to time, I feel like I have nothing else to do and prove, but I try very hard to change my mindset and focus on something that interests me, or something that I still want to achieve or experience. I hope this helps, as long you think you still have a mission like helping a family member or someone, that's going to be a positive and will push you to get out of bed in the morning.

Not sure if that helps, but I hope it does.

cheers