Reply To: I want to give up

[Chica]

Hey there thisguy, I hope you give yourself some credit for the good things that you are managing here and now. I think turning to your ADD peers and talking honestly about your life is a smart choice, and does you credit. I think lots of small feel-good stuff is possible, and all of it counts as important – don’t watch the news on TV, find some comedy. Don’t compare yourself to others, compare yourself to your daughter who is an extension of you and smiles, cries, tastes things and tries things which are right there – here and now.

When I had been truly depressed, and just existing – completely stuck and lost not understanding what was wrong, I did manage to turn the tide slowly and surely at first by concentrating on my physical well-being. I turned my attention to my body several times a day and taught myself to act on the messages, even though I was confused as to why it seemed such a challenge. If I felt cold, I immediately stood up and did something about it. If I was hungry, I took all the concentration I needed to find something healthy to eat. If I was foggy on waking in the morning, I pushed myself to put on my iPod and go for a walk outside.

I know it might sound idiotic in the face of your larger problems, but ultimately depression and ADHD and how you feel sit in your body. They are physical!  Depression and the feel of your health improving are quite literally opposites. I know ADHD can be very different from person to person, and I might be a bit unusual in how bad I was at paying attention to how I physically felt and acting upon it – but I wanted to tell you that this one simple change worked for me, it is free and never stops being the obvious way to feel a tiny bit better. It gained momentum, and I really did get to move on and feel good again.

The hard part was learning to respect the work of making myself feel a tiny bit better and healthier in the shadow of so many big, worldly problems.

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