Anybody else here who is depressed?

[scribesunlimited]

As you may or may not know, this means my creative side likes to hide from me a bit too much and too often

Been there. I like to remember a quote from a former agent I had in the 1980s. "Don't f**k with creativity. It never comes when you want it to."

I'm sad when people I know are depressed and I feel kind of helpless because there's really nothing I can do. But I CAN say, if you have people in your life who love you and care about you, whether friends or family or social acquaintences, you're never alone. And when you're not alone, you can get through anything.

[RyzaCobalion]

I felt like that once last year yeah when I had creative block for 3 months and it was about solute torture for me. I couldn't write or draw anything so much so that i felt like i was going insane. i decided to go on a month hiatus because any further i would go crazier. There's always times to create and then there's where you need a break.

[Wocalich]

True, but it sucks to have to wait for the uncreative period to be over

[Dane_Sherbet]

So I heard my people were having a party.

[elisabeth_ist]

Sending hugs and support to everyone here.

In terms of right now... I think it's important for everyone to remember that life is really, really difficult these days, wherever in the world you may live. We're in the middle of a pandemic. The environment is doing weird and terrifying things. Various democracies are doing weird and terrifying things. Every day is a new flip of the coin.

And that means that it's more important than ever to be kind and gentle with yourself. At this point, our one job is just to survive this time as well as we can manage. We need to allow ourselves a lot of grace. We need to rest more. We need to make an effort to spend time doing the things that can make us a little bit happy, even if it's only for a short time. Treating ourselves the same way we would treat a struggling friend or family member -- with compassion -- should be the top priority.

(Brought to you by a woman who just had a small panic attack about the 2020 U.S. election and spent two-and-a-half hours hashing out all the feelings with a friend.)

[Dane_Sherbet]

Twitter was a mistake in general and this time in particular.

[kmlangleyauthor]

Hitting random (or the big!) milestones is the best!! and I’m really glad she’s there for you

a military interview, 100x worse than a civilian one

This is so real * cries in veteran *

So I heard my people were having a party.

Totally here for this

@elisabeth_ist thank you for your pep talk I honestly really needed to hear (read) this today. I also have anxiety (yay ) and paired with depression plus several really freaking hard years has made this year seem impossible to deal with at some points.

But also. STAY TF OFF OF TWITTER UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION please! Or at least hardcore limit yourself! I almost always have to go on a social media blackout the month before elections because it spikes my anxiety so badly

[RyzaCobalion]

True, it does suck if you do try to push yourself too much you too will go insane. But once the wait is over the flow of creativity will come back to you slowly or in full throttle and you'll be creating nonstop.

[jensrichard77]

I’m not sure if creative people get more depressed than others. But from my perspective, it is a state of mind that comes with.

I feel it is a Yin and Yang. Maybe it is like athletes, you can't run all the time without hurting your muscles.
Me, I use my muscle called the brain, and I can't be creative all the time without burning out. And with that comes depression.

I live with this all the time. I know that the sun will shine after the rain. I know I will burn out and I know depression will pass and I will be back in the game.

I just need to focus on the positive side of life. When I’m down I look forward to when it is over and not focus on the pain, if I do that I will only stay longer in the depression.

[mbindhammer]

Me too. On medication at the moment: Sertraline and Mirtazapine. Since then I work on my comic. I have not drawn for 30 years. I know what I am drawing from. From life experiences and from the view of a scientist

[mbindhammer]

How old is your daughter? I have a daughter too. She is born in Shanghai, now 9 years old...

[frgmnt]

I am depressed... all the time honestly, but when it's particularly bad (like recently) my creativity just turns off, and the only activities my brain will kindly allow are crying and passing time with something that requires 0 mental effort. (eg. mindlessly scrolling social media, playing stupid games on my phone, aimless internet browsing)
I have pretty much no friends and my family either doesn't care or is even worse off so I can only count on myself for support and motivating myself, and of course it's super-reliable...
How do people even make vent art??? You don't become a different person, completely unable to do anything art-related, when your mood hits the "I wish I were dead" point???
The only thing I can do is try to make as much art as I can in between depressive episodes, but it's very easy to turn this short downtime into a longer artblock - I stop drawing for two days, I might as well stop it for life.

[NickRowler]

I was diagnosed with Major Depression when I was a 10, so it is sort of something I dealt with most of my life. I have had little luck with medication with some not working or causing really bad side effects.

I never found therapy helpful. I am poor so my selection is limited and most don’t have a good background knowledge to deal with someone like me.

What I mostly do is just keep myself distracted, so I don’t have to think about it. However, I think most of my depression is rooted in being lonely and feeling rejected from society. So I like to write about people finding connections and friends.

[mbindhammer]

I can understand that...I am burnt out, but my creativity in many areas forces me to keep going until the next burnout. Creativity is elixir of life and death at the same time, a vicious circle. Not healthy, but I cannot get out of it. Every day that I do not learn or create anything is lost, I do not know how to relax. Sometimes I feel like invisible, everything breaks away, everyone goes away, a loneliness that only those who have severe depressions can understand

[jensrichard77]

I feel you @mbindhammer I feel you.
I have the diagnose ADD (that's ADHD without the H) meaning that my brain is newer shutting down. I get meds and it helps me to not burn out that much.

Wish you the best.

[mbindhammer]

Same to you. Like I wrote in my comic, episode "No filter". I have lost the ability to see the world through a filter. Everything collapses upon me unfiltered. I have a wife who loves me and a daughter, but I cannot stop the self-destruction. Maybe we should show our art here, which was created during such crises. That would interest me.

[MeltingCORE]

I don't have depression but I do have Schizoaffective which causes depressive episodes. I can empathize with you all because it can be hard. I'm a bit of the opposite where I retreat into my art and writing because I find it comforting. I've had people take advantage of my vulnerable states in the past to use me for various things and it hurts because I always just wanted friends and to share my stuff. That's all.

Luckily nowadays I have a close group of friends who I get to speak with almost every day. And I've been with the same boyo for over ten years. (He's not on here, but I love you, Mike! ) I did most of my suffering it feels like in middle school and high school lol. Back when everyone was catty and immature.

[UrMom]

This is so real * cries in veteran *

Singlehandedly the most terrifying experience in existence.

At least if you have test and social anxiety. Interestingly enough the base Psychologist I was seeing for my board interview never experienced one before because she was a civilian, so during my final board I requested they let her shadow it to see what one was like, and her being there helped me be not freaked out enough to pass. Also it felt like I was taking a hit for the good of furthering someone's education, which also helped in some odd way.

[jensrichard77]

Maybe we should show our art here, which was created during such crises. That would interest me.

Sorry. I do not have that kind of material to share

[kmlangleyauthor]

That’s really cool that they let her shadow you! That definitely would have made me feel better, too (kind of having someone “on your side” the whole time). Thankfully I didn’t have to take too many boards (but the ones I did were hell) but my hubby had a job that he had monthly(?) boards and he got to the point that they don’t even bother him anymore (which just blows my mind LOL). I had more watch standing anxiety that flared up than anything - I was just in weird situations the whole time where I didn’t ever feel like I had enough training for the situations I was in and it was so bad all the time