I am pessimistic about the future...

[Ladyhawk]

...not on a personal level, but on a global level. If the neo-fascists don't get us and the economy doesn't tank and kill us, Peak Oil or global warming will.

This makes me want to stop fighting the depression and just give in. Even overcoming inner problems won't work this time. That's how I'm feeling.

[Droopy]

1. I look at it this way

Yes, the world is a fucked up place and there is very little we can do about it beyond volunteering for our favorite charity.

But I'll be damned if I'm going to let others dictate how I feel about my own life.

The "we're all doomed anyway" argument I think is just an excuse for you not to try to feel better. I understand that because the process of getting well can be a painful experience. Life has a 0% survival rate. Nobody gets out alive. I can either spend my days feeling bad or I can spend them feeling good. It's really that simple. I choose to do everything I can to feel good.

[Ladyhawk]

2. "The 'we're all doomed anyway' argument I think is just an...

...excuse for you not to try to feel better."

You'd make a terrible therapist.

Besides, a lot of people feel something nasty in the works.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2757942

[Droopy]

3. I never claimed to be a therapist

I'm just giving you my take. You can make the choice to try to feel better. You are not powerless. You speak of wanting to give into depression. That's a choice.

I used to be depressed. Just a few days ago I was depressed. See my other thread in this group. I'm not anymore because that anti-depressant I've been taking is finally starting to kick in.

You say you've picked yourself up despite terrible odds. Well it sounds like it's time to do it again, unless you just want to feel bad.

[rasputin1952]

4. There are days I feel like that, there are days I don't...

I could be wrong, but I kind of look at life as a whole lot of side trips; some of them are fantastic, some of them really stink, most of them are quite boring and mundane; but they are all learning experiences.

Most of the choices I make are my own, few of them are made by others.
I used to say, "I'm in a rut", a friend of mine told me, "A rut is nothing more than a grave without ends". That hit me, I realized I had to change my strategy if I wanted to keep moving ahead. There are answers out there, but we have to look for them. Reading, writing and taking in knowledge have done wonders for me over the years. There are many questions I have yet to find answers for, but I keep searching. For me, that is a part of my very being.

We all have certain gifts, if I may use that term. Use yours to benefit those close to you, then expand on them to perform random acts of kindness; you will find in yourself a powerful person that you always knew existed, but were just a little too timid to let out.

Voice your concerns, just as you have here, and allow others to offer a helping hand. I believe you are a strong person, I have read your posts in the main forums for quite sometime, and have always been impressed. Just be who you are, not what others think you should be.

[undergroundpanther]

5. I feel that way everydamn day

I ask myself why.
I know things could be better if more people would stop think and feel and CARE.

Too many bullies with too much power.Too many victims gave them power and they do what sociopaths do,to living things,abuse it crush it use it up and sell it.
I am not a victim,anymore but despite that fact I am still a drop in the bucket politically.

I sometimes sit up at night in the dark,when my partner is konked out, and I ask my heart to stop beating. But it goes on.and on.And I have no clue why.I ask because I don't want to see the world be murdered.I have felt a million deaths in my own heart,a million knives and stabs in my emotions.I don't want the pain of a million bad decisions I didn't make or bad plans I didn't do or start to come crashing down on me,and take everything I love away,I don't want to see more suffering and suffer more than I have for the ones who will not feel or care... I don't want to be around to be in the massive anthrosuicide ,hotzoneed,world war3 economic collapse,envionmental disaster, social meltdown because humanity has let the bullies take control and rule for too long and let the bullies abuse this world and rob it of it's communal diversity of life and wealth and torture it's love away slowly with policies and empires of greed hate and death for profit.. I want to run the other way but I fear the tide of blind lemmings has had it's say and no matter what I do it will never be enough,and I am overuled and I don't want to take the plunge,but the tide is high and I cannot swim against it anymore. I die for the stupidity and immorality of a few,and the victimhood of the many like evertyone else I go where the masses go for none in this world is an island,no matter how much they tell themselves they are"individuals".
And I want to scream and cry why? why?
And there is no answer,no solution..

[undergroundpanther]

6. The only thing I can do

Is be different than the forces destroying this world are.
Hold onto my integrity,hold onto my breaking heart,feel and care..and support..be a freind,share myself and my stuff.Listen..Be there..
Until it all ends. I know and I can admit I do not have to enjoy these times,or pretend they don't make me crazy with grief,,or pretend it does not hurt me to see the damage done.Because when I smile in the face of atrocity it still hurts me.I prefer to be honest about how I feel rather than stiffen my lips in the face of a situation of this horrific magnitude.
But this does not mean I can put myself away (by desensitizing my self with a grin or selling out,or stopping my heart)to avoid the pain because that does not stop the pain either..
Buddha said the first noble truth is suffering. And suffering is real it is no illusion if you can feel the pain.It makes me want to hug everyone who feels like this.And maybe THAT is the answer.

[Droopy]

7. Another thing about the Buddha and suffering

Buddha saw that in the world there was a lot of suffering. He set out to find a way to relieve that suffering. I think that's what Buddhism is all about.

We cannot change the world on a big scale on our own. But we can make little differences in our own lives and in the lives of those who are around us. Every little bit helps. If enough people start doing that then we truly can change the world or at least our country.

I seem to be in a minority on this board in that I don't think another Bush term is going to kill us all or make life intolerable here. There are many things I don't like about Bush, foremost being the war, and I think the war is causing a lot more suffering than it is helping to relieve suffering as is Bush's alledged intention. But the world has been far closer to self destruction or fascist takeover than it is now. The Cuban missle crisis and WWII are two good examples. We've gone through far more bloody and oppressive times and we're still here alive and kicking as free as we ever were.

Despite a regressive adcministration in power, we still have it better in the U.S. than about 90% of the world. Most people have adequate food, shelter, water and health care. We are still very fortunate to be living here. Don't let Bush take your sanity. It would probably do his black heart good to know that there are people out here who are losing it because he's in power. Don't give him the satisfaction.

[DemExpat]

8. I also think back to WWII.....

but agree that the dangers now seem much more threatening globally, as you mention in global warming, and other environmental threats, along with endless wars, social unease, etc. etc. etc.

Everything is so connected now, what happens in one country is felt all over the world.....

I find myself one day feeling quite pessimistic and hopeless, then the next I feel realistically optimistic about our chances for survival and for betterment of life for everybody.

As the dark forces roam the earth, so do the light, and they get much less media coverage, that is for sure!

Little positive things mean a lot, giving into despair serves no purpose whatsoever - for the world, your relationships, and for you, personally.

I let myself feel pessimistic and down about the world in general, about anything - I stew in it for a few days, maybe write it all down in very plain English in my diary - then find it dissipates and makes room for more good stuff the next day....
So far in the last 2 decades my depressions do not become full blown Depresssions like they were in my 20s, maybe partly because I have learned to let myself feel negativity and not pretend otherwise!

Hope you are feeling better today!

DemEx

[Chimpanzee]

9. I think we are all cursed by our knowledge

When you have been educated to what's really happening in this country and the world, you can't go back to ignorance. It's a burden most people don't have to live with. It's depressing and produces anxiety. I pretty much feel hopeless. They say knowledge is power, but it can also be a yoke around ones neck.

[rasputin1952]

10. I was just reading through this thread again, and am impressed with...

the emotions displayed here. They are all heartfelt and honest, and in that, there is is much good.

I know I said you'd most likely not know I was here most of the time, but I felt compelled to jot out a few lines, I hope you don't mind.

Like everyone else, I've had my share of ups and downs. Sometimes, they seem insurmountable, but inevitably, life goes on, and the problem, in essence, passes. I go back to something I learned long ago from a friend of mine's father, who was a rabbi, and had lived throught he Hollocaust. I was 15 or 16, and we were discussing problems in general. He knocked problems down to two catagories, life threatening, and non-life threatening. He looks at me and says, "Now, take a look, is your life threatened by what is around you at the moment? If not, it is not a problem, you have time to deal with it. If your life is in immediate danger, you have a problem".

This put a great portion of my life in proportion at that moment. I am not Jewish, but I became accutely aware of the wisdom of the Jewish traditions and how they dealt with things for thousands of years. I began to look at all kinds of things differently. I knew I had time in almost every situation to either figure out an answer, or get help with an answer. Life was suddenly not so Black and White, it was now technicolor! I had, in one afternoon, learned what so many others had spent an entire lifetime looking for, I was simply ME. I could make choices! I could move my destiny in a new direction by making choices. Sure, some of them would be poor, some of them would be downright bad, but they would be MINE! I no longer had to feed with the sheep, I could move off in another direction, chart my own course...I was ME.

I learned that I could love, be a part of someone elses dream, take others along on my journey, and go with others on theirs. Life had meaning, and I was a part of it. What an epiphany.

I see a lot of that in the posts above. I see movement in life's choices. I see life growing in those that have posted here...and it is beautiful to behold.

The eloquence that I have seen is wonderful. The caring and watchfulness you have for the members of this forum is something to you should all be proud of. As I walk through DU, usually on a daily basis for a few hours, I am reminded that if some of the members that are out there barking at each other and sniping away at each other; using their energies far too often to berate others, might just come in here and sit back for just a moment and see how supportive and decent you are to each other...this world might just be a better place.

Thank you ever so much for allowing me to be a part of this, you have made my life just a little better...:)

[Droopy]

11. Thanks for the kind words

And for the wise ones as well. If you've never been inside a support group like this, then you are probably having a new experience. I've been in groups in my life, live ones not internet based, where people just come to talk about issues that are affecting their lives especially in regards to mental illnes. There have been rough moments in them, but I've always come away from them with a better understanding of who I am. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are dealing with issues in your life, not just mental illness, then one of these groups can be extremely helpful. It may help you put things in perspective just like the rabbi did for you in your youth.

Oh, and don't be afraid to pop your head in here and give us your take on things. The more the merrier. Just looking around the board, I think a lot more people would benefit from this forum. Hopefully we can keep it going.

[rasputin1952]

12. You'll keep it going, I see new faces in here all the time...

Some may have problems that are transient, some may be a little deeper. But regardless, this forum will stay, and you will se it grow. There is a stability when there is a common bond, as I've said before, you all have good hearts and caring souls...:)

This is indeed a good place....:)