Frustration has been very much the name of the game when things don’t seem to progress as fast as I wanted them to. My therapist suggested drawing that out. So here goes. And yes of course I’m tempted to give[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This question always gets me. When is enough, enough? For some people, as long as I’m unwell, I’ll not be enough. If I’m well but I hold values they don’t agree with, I’ll not be enough. Even if I start[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
One thing most people don’t know about me and my comic is that very often, I feel like a fraud drawing this, writing of my experiences. What if I’m lying to myself? What if all this isn’t true, and what[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This is really hard. REALLY HARD. I’m struggling with it right now and my critic is screaming at me. But I managed to deploy this comic I’ve drawn for a while now. It’s one small step. And it’s enough, critic.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Depression changes the usual rules on managing criticism and the various voices in our heads. There’s no easy solution – look at the speed at which I’m posting! But one trick is to recognise when people do care, and when[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
If we really want to be fair to others, we don’t just listen to all the bad things about them, or even just the good things. Being human, no one is perfect. So to be fair, we should listen to[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The problem with mental health struggles is that what seems “okay” and “doable” or even “normal” sometimes isn’t any of that. The mind gets up in a bind when faced with some “common-sense” thoughts. Insisting that it should be okay,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Our inner critic is important to us as a defense against the world, and to push us to do better. But in depression, that can become way over low, and is a bit of a vicious circle. We start listening[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This doesn’t just happen in depression but it’s a lot more difficult when depression is involved. Understanding why the negative voices are there and why they’re so difficult to overcome is helpful to understand why it’s not so easy sometimes,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Just because I’ve got depression doesn’t mean I don’t react temporarily to nice things, or that I can’t be friendly to people around. But once the chocolate happies wear off, then it’s back to working hard to simply stay present,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…