Introducing myself: GTL

[GTL]

Hi all. Just reaching out to share my story and chat as much as I can. I believe in truth telling and honesty and have come a long way because of my depression. My long-time psychologist has helped me to accept my depression and understand that is has had some positive impacts upon who I am and what I've done. I've a long history of battling depression including a lot of success with exercise as therapy (cycling) as well as meditation and mindfulness to an extent, when I'm feeling strong, and medication most of the time because I'm only human. I have been treated for depression only in the last 10 years, but I've always had it and it's been triggered a great deal in the last decade and quite recently through COVID and associate family tension. I'm also a teacher, and have had quite a lot of success with photography (amateur) and writing two novels (yet to be published) while working full-time. I love to write and I plan to read as much as I can and interact with those with shared interests. I hope to meet a few people and share stories - I don't have an outlet for this at home and I'm excited by the prospect of meeting fellow humane humans :-)Thanks for reading!

[Mark Z.]

Hi GTL,

Welcome to the forum.

I can't wait to listen to your stories and read your novels! I believe your experience will help a lot of people with similar challenges, and you will also get new inspiration from others here.

Mark

[james1]

Hey GTL,

Welcome to the forums. It's really great to meet you here, and I hope you get to connect with some others here as well.

I am really glad to hear you have had a lot of success with exercise as it's something that really helped me when I was suffering quite badly with depression, and even now is something I maintain.

Hope to see you around!

James

[geoff]

Hello GTL, can I join Mark and James in welcoming you to the forums.

Sometimes it's possible for people to believe they have been suffering from this illness for quite a while, but hope it will just fade away, normally that's not what we can achieve by ourselves and need the help from someone qualified to understand what we're talking about or people ho have been through it themselves.

The stories on this site are plentiful and range from different perspectives and can easily be combined.

We look forward in hearing back from you.

Geoff.

[jaz28]

Hi GTL,

Welcome! It's great to have you here. It seems like you have some solid experiences that you can share here that will be able to help others. We are also here to help you - so reach out whenever you need us!

I look forward to hearing your stories,

jaz xx