Hey everyone, My name's Steve, I'm new to the Beyond Blue forum haha. Allow me to introduce myself.. Like many, I too suffer from depression and anxiety. My time in primary and secondary schooling, was well.. The polar opposite of positive. Most of my time in school was shrouded in misery, depression, unrelenting bullying and the list goes on. Despite my best efforts, I've been really struggling to deal with depression (due to unemployment) recently. In order to try and deter depression, I regularly hit the gym (3 times a week) for lengthy sessions at a time. While regularly attending gym is a good thing, it still does not fix the underlining problem of unemployment. After working out rigorously, I often find myself with too much time on my hands. I do enjoy maintaining a very clean car, but you can't be washing it daily lol. I do enjoy hitting the beach, but given that it is winter here in Melbourne, the cold ocean breeze does detract from the overall enjoyment of the beach haha. So why don't I go get a job?.. Ahh yes, easier said than done. When your someone like me, who gets discriminated from applying for jobs due to your heritage (despite having the essential licence), it makes applying for and being accepted for a job.. Impossible. I myself am not one to judge people, I am very accepting of all people, all shapes/sizes, heritage, religion etc. I never judge people on those particular things, but it seems that others judge me purely on my heritage. Maybe employers are scared that a young man with dark brown hair & eyes and olive/tanned skin wants to become a truck driver?, the possibilities are endless. If you must know, I am of Italian heritage. I can't understand why being of that heritage is disliked by employers, it's just ridiculous. I've found that by paying attention, listening and offering advice and tips to many other people in our community, it helps me too. I understand that there are many people who are suffering from depression for different reasons compared to me, It's something that i want to help people with. Having suffered from depression for many years, I'm definitely no stranger to it. I can well and truly relate to it and understand what many are going through. That's why I want to help people, to let them know their experiences are understandable. That's my brief introduction (not really brief, but you know what I mean), I look forward to speaking to and offering advice to many on this forum. Thank you for reading my thread!
