10/26/15: Anxiety & Depression at its Finest

I tend to make blogs, then be really bad about keeping up with them. And it's not so much that I don't have the time, but due to other factors, it just seems so hard to do. The point of this blog in particular was to talk about the daily struggles we all deal with as people who suffer from various mental handicaps, such as anxiety and depression, and many others. I have severe anxiety with depression, and those two things right there is what keeps me from writing daily in my blogs. My anxiety affects it in the way of "what if"... "What if I word things wrong?", "What if I ramble and don't get my point across?", "What if people think I'm weird for my way of thinking?"... stuff like that. And as for how my depression affects it is the fact that when you're depressed, you have a severe lack of motivation and feel like it all just isn't worth it. Any one reading this with depression knows what I mean. Be it writing, artwork, cleaning, work, etc., some of us just can't bring ourselves to do certain tasks because of our anxiety and depression. People who have never dealt with any of this will have a hard time understanding why we act the way we do or do the things we do. I've been with my husband for 10 years, and he's still learning to understand my many quirks and qualms.
To those who know how I feel, and are the same as me... just know you're not alone, and we all have harder times than others.
Let's use a recent event in my life to illustrate how my depression is affecting me...
For about the past year or so, I've been the managing editor for a video game website. The job opportunity came at a time when money was needed, so it was not only very welcomed, but a necessity. Well, this past Friday I was informed I would no longer be receiving any income from the website as traffic is next to nothing on the website. Granted, I was only getting paid $600 per month, but that paid a nice chunk of my rent and water.And now that's gone. I'm still the managing editor title, and can still do my gaming journalism as I've always wanted, but now upon my shoulders I have that stress of being down on $600 per month. In my head, I think, "I can't give this up now...I've wanted to make my living as a journalist in the video game industry... I can write more, work harder, and the site will regain its traffic and I'll receive some sort of income again!", but in reality the stress of that monthly lack of money is crushing me, consuming me. It's all I can think of... and it's causing my depression to spiral downwards so much more than normal, and making my anxiety pretty out of hand. Hence, I am hitting a writing-block on my site... I have zero motivation at this point. Even though I'm trying to be positive in thinking that I can still make this website succeed, I feel sad and worthless, and like its failure is my fault (I tend to blame myself whenever anything goes wrong in my life, even if it's out of my hands).
At this point I really don't know what to do with myself, other than take this opportunity to write in this blog and give some insight into the anxiety and depression I am facing right now. I feel hopeless, but deep down I know better. I know I can do this... it'll just take me some time to get back into my groove of feeling like I can accomplish anything... I just need to process through this sludge called 'depression' first...
If you take anything from this, take away the fact that no matter how low you feel and how hopeless life seems... there is always light at the end of the tunnel and a silver lining to that dark cloud. No matter the situation, everything gets better in time. I always stick to the line "Everything happens for a reason", I'm just struggling to figure out why this happened... maybe to light a fire under me to reach out and seek more freelance jobs? Maybe I'll get a better opportunity elsewhere because of it? It's hard to say right now... so I'll just sit in solace and wait for that calm that is promised after the storm.

-Introduction-

Have you ever felt alone even though you have people all around you 24/7? Have you ever had this tiny voice in the back of your mind constantly reminding you that you are going to utterly fail no matter what you do? Have you ever been perfectly fine one moment, and then the next minute you begin to panic, chest heaving, mind racing, and growing faint? If any of these pertain to you, then most likely you are somewhat like me perhaps, and suffer from anxiety and depression, and maybe a few other mental disabilities. Keep in mind, this is nothing to be ashamed of... it's part of who you are, and it can't be changed. Medications and therapy can help you cope with it, but these diseases aren't just 'cured'. Like, I cannot stand it when I have having a panic attack or a really bad bout of depression and someone tells me "Oh, you can help it... you're doing this to yourself." Yes, in a way we are doing it to ourselves, but it's not purposely, TRUST ME. I wouldn't wish my anxiety and depression on my worst enemy. There is nothing worse than feeling like a total failure and feeling like you're slowly drowning due to stress and other negative stimuli.
And let me clarify before I go on any further with this blog - I am NOT a trained therapist or psychologist, I am merely just someone who suffers from a few mental ailments and wanted to find n outlet to reach out to others who suffer like myself, and maybe even enlighten those who do not understand it at all. This blog will be about my experiences and the experiences of others that I have gathered over the years. Maybe we can help someone along the way, and maybe we won't, but we won't know until we try!! Hey, even if you (yeah, you reading this ^_^) have a story of your own you'd like to share, just comment below, or feel free to email me at felea0507@hotmail.com and I can share your story here in my blog for the world to read - and you can choose to leave your name of be anonymous... it's your choice <3
Basically, my point with starting this blog is to help others and help others to help others. It sucks to feel like you're all alone and that no one understands how you feel. Feeling like you don't belong and that you're an outsider isn't anything anybody should ever feel. So please, let me help you, and maybe you can even help me in the process. So feel free to email me or leave a comment below! There will be more blogs to come... and we will talk more about mental illnesses and what we can do to help one another and help ourselves.
Peace & love,
Nightingale