Depression

[Dbikeguy]

Mental health is a growing issue, sadly it’s the way we lead lives and for the younger folks ( i’m 35 but about 50 in my head i’m told!) social media maybe not knowingly but it affects a lot of people.
We just lost my dad to covid and i know if i stop working/moving for long it affect me badly mentally. I discovered a long time ago i need to make myself suffer through exercise to keep any demons at bay. For some a walk with a dog is enough, for others and quite a few of my friends proper hard effort is needed and regular to keep things in check. I think it’s why crossfit etc are booming, the human body is a balance, we become more sedentary (not most on here i understand) we lack that ancestral fight for your life, fight to provide food and nutrition that we are made for.
hard exercise releases the same mental feeling as that.

[Big J]

19 minutes ago, Dbikeguy said:

Mental health is a growing issue, sadly it’s the way we lead lives and for the younger folks ( i’m 35 but about 50 in my head i’m told!) social media maybe not knowingly but it affects a lot of people.
We just lost my dad to covid and i know if i stop working/moving for long it affect me badly mentally. I discovered a long time ago i need to make myself suffer through exercise to keep any demons at bay. For some a walk with a dog is enough, for others and quite a few of my friends proper hard effort is needed and regular to keep things in check. I think it’s why crossfit etc are booming, the human body is a balance, we become more sedentary (not most on here i understand) we lack that ancestral fight for your life, fight to provide food and nutrition that we are made for.
hard exercise releases the same mental feeling as that.

I'm sorry to hear about your father.  

 

I do think there is merit in exercise. I started weight training again in April after a 12 year lay off (excepting 5-6 months a few years ago) and I feel a lot better for it, both mentally and physically. I was really struggling with my back through last winter, which compounded the mental health issues. 

 

I love being outside, whether that's fishing, swimming, hiking, cycling or just sat in the garden. The fishing is pretty good in Devon, but that's about all that can be said. From an access to the outdoors point of view, the move from Scotland has been very, very disappointing. 

[Rough Hewn]

Northern Dartmoor is piss wet all year.
Southern Devon, or eastern or western are lovely.
Just avoid Dartmoor and exmoor.
I grew up there.
Still got wet socks....
[emoji106]

[Big J]

6 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Northern Dartmoor is piss wet all year.
Southern Devon, or eastern or western are lovely.
Just avoid Dartmoor and exmoor.
I grew up there.
Still got wet socks....

It almost never stops raining in Cullompton too. And with the clay soil, venturing off the tarmac from October to March is best compared to negotiating the Somme. 

[Boy]

After the death of my mother 7 years ago I had depression pretty much continuously for  6 years. Worst period in my life. Couldn't/ didn't want to do anything, everyday was like living in an old faded colour photograph life being dull and  having no point or reason to live. Getting a good diet and regular exercise be it pulling weights or my favourite walking the dog helps more than you will know. I've been 'free' for  year now and still have down days now and then but they are no where near the depths of what I went through. Just hang in there and it will go away. 

[Big J]

33 minutes ago, Boy said:

After the death of my mother 7 years ago I had depression pretty much continuously for  6 years. Worst period in my life. Couldn't/ didn't want to do anything, everyday was like living in an old faded colour photograph life being dull and  having no point or reason to live. Getting a good diet and regular exercise be it pulling weights or my favourite walking the dog helps more than you will know. I've been 'free' for  year now and still have down days now and then but they are no where near the depths of what I went through. Just hang in there and it will go away. 

Glad that you're on the other side of it (for the most part), and welcome to the forum ?

[Boy]

Thank you Big J! It's been a hell of a ride but all seems well now. The hard part is that its a personal thing and what works for one of us doesnt have the same effect on someone else. This forum is a great way for us to open up about problems to people we may consider as being mates. 

[dan blocker]

Not sure why I clicked on this thread?. Lost a real good mate several years ago and I didn’t see it coming. The fact that you blokes Big J and Boy and others are posting on here is a big start to addressing your issues. I’ve got real “pissed off” a few times but was it depression? I’m not qualified to say however I probably know myself better than any body else, except my misses who knows me real well, and can read me like a book, and knows what I’m thinking before I do?.
Big J it seems like the weather is a big factor in your shit days, haven’t exactly picked a good area to relocate to. Especially for your line of business, timber Harvesting and extraction isn’t exactly a walk in the park in slippers is it?. You blokes create mud when there hasn’t been any seen for centuries?. You appear busy though and pushing on with more kit so it can’t all be bad.

The biggest thing chaps is to talk to others about any issues we have, don’t bottle it up, one day the bloody cork will pop?. Posting on here is one step from a tel call to a mate or even better a face to face?.
I had no idea my mate had any issues, I hadn’t seen him for a couple of weeks and the last thing I said to him was we’ll meet for a brew and catch up?. He left a wife and kids? It turns out my mate was a right selfish twat after all wasn’t he?

[eggsarascal]

I started this thread and I can tell you without any doubt you be would depressed wherever you were living/working. One occasion when I was suffering I had nothing to worry about, nothing!, I still fell into a dark place. All I could do was sit it out. It's a Bastard.

 

Try to keep your chin up J, I know it's easier said than done, but with a bit of luck it will soon pass.

Edited October 30, 2020 by eggsarascal

[djbobbins]

Mine is a mix of work and personal stuff. Worst time I had was about 8 years ago - I’d been on a secondment to Germany, moved the wife and kids over there, then the company pulled the rug on it only about six weeks after the family moved.

I’d moved to that job from a role I really liked, thinking it was the right thing to do. I ended up moving back to the U.K. into a job I wasn’t experienced enough to do, had no team and a manager who was useless. Blamed myself a lot for things that weren’t of my doing.

I got through that but only after another person at work dragged me into a different job. In the intervening 8 months I’d lost nearly 3 stone and been prescribed by my doc for sleeping tablets and Prozac. The only reason I didn’t do anything daft was because I didn’t want to leave my wife with two young kids. Fortunately the new job worked out, I got back to being able to sleep and enjoying what I did. I stopped the Prozac after about 7 months.

It’s hard to find the right words to describe it, but the best way I can think of saying it is that since then I feel like I’ve “broken the seal”. I haven’t been back on prescription meds, thankfully, but I have a heightened sense of what could happen and in a way I think that some issues which I would have brushed off 10 years ago will now cause me stress and sleepless nights. In turn that’s a bit of a vicious circle - waking up at 3am and worrying about work means I’m tired and sub-par the next day - so more risk of mistakes, forgetfulness etc.

Not sure any of this helps you folks out there - but although exercise helps a bit (walking, cycling sometimes) I also find mindfulness really helpful. We had a big of a mantra at work - getting to the end of the day and consciously reflecting on:

- what went well?
- what am I thankful for?
- what did I enjoy?


Even if some of the things are really trivial, the act of consciously considering these things helps.