Community is the only real answer to depression, both overcoming a chemical imbalance and preventing a relapse. You can be the healthiest motherfucker out there or the fattest weeb, but unless you have a group of people who accept and interact with you on a daily basis, you're fucked.
I think the larger answer is a healthy sense of self, and just being in a healthy environment that can foster better mental/emotional health. A grounded, healthy community can often provide a good portion of that.
With all this being said, there must be some inherent reason why some people are able to cope with stuff better than others…
Like, I’ve tried desperately hard to improve my “coping mechanisms”, over the years, and I think, maybe, I’m very slowly getting better (one step forward, two steps back). But some people will experience much worse things in their life, and they will be able to cope.
People who survive terrible things, like war, natural disasters, extreme poverty, whatever.
Why it is that some (not all) of them could cope, and made it through, and some of us just seemingly cant, I do not know. But it must be something to do with the way our brains are wired…
Regardless, I suppose one thing, for me personally, is that, for the first time in a long time, I no longer blame anyone for what has happened. Not family. Not shitty people within the system (often, educational bureaucrats) who made my life so much harder. Not abusive bosses. Not the people who’ve hurt me, or discarded me, or let me down, along the way. And I try not to blame myself, either.
Things happen. People make mistakes. Life is not easy. Unfortunately sometimes those mistakes can haunt you forever, if you don’t overcome them…
Anyway, I truly hope there’s light at the end of this tunnel, for all of us, but it’s a really hard place to reach, chemicals or no.
As someone who doesn’t have that, and has always really wanted it, yeah, I completely agree…
Also, I think, the need to feel genuinely valued/of value to someone or something…
If you don’t have that, unless you’re a very specific type of person (the kind who can survive as a hermit, for example), then you’re likely to really struggle…
I’ve never had a friend with whom some form of daily/near-daily contact worked out, in the long run…
Ever.
Not to say that it wouldn’t be ideal, or that I’m not appallingly lonely. Just that I’ve never had a friend like that, who would be there through the ups and downs, who wouldn’t judge, and who could bring themselves to put in that effort…
I just can’t imagine what that would be like, honestly.
Community is the only real answer to depression, both overcoming a chemical imbalance and preventing a relapse. You can be the healthiest motherfucker out there or the fattest weeb, but unless you have a group of people who accept and interact with you on a daily basis, you're fucked.
I think the larger answer is a healthy sense of self, and just being in a healthy environment that can foster better mental/emotional health. A grounded, healthy community can often provide a good portion of that.
With all this being said, there must be some inherent reason why some people are able to cope with stuff better than others…
Like, I’ve tried desperately hard to improve my “coping mechanisms”, over the years, and I think, maybe, I’m very slowly getting better (one step forward, two steps back). But some people will experience much worse things in their life, and they will be able to cope.
People who survive terrible things, like war, natural disasters, extreme poverty, whatever.
Why it is that some (not all) of them could cope, and made it through, and some of us just seemingly cant, I do not know. But it must be something to do with the way our brains are wired…
Regardless, I suppose one thing, for me personally, is that, for the first time in a long time, I no longer blame anyone for what has happened. Not family. Not shitty people within the system (often, educational bureaucrats) who made my life so much harder. Not abusive bosses. Not the people who’ve hurt me, or discarded me, or let me down, along the way. And I try not to blame myself, either.
Things happen. People make mistakes. Life is not easy. Unfortunately sometimes those mistakes can haunt you forever, if you don’t overcome them…
Anyway, I truly hope there’s light at the end of this tunnel, for all of us, but it’s a really hard place to reach, chemicals or no.
As someone who doesn’t have that, and has always really wanted it, yeah, I completely agree…
Also, I think, the need to feel genuinely valued/of value to someone or something…
If you don’t have that, unless you’re a very specific type of person (the kind who can survive as a hermit, for example), then you’re likely to really struggle…
At least in my experience, anyway.
Not sure about the daily basis part.
With good friends, it is ideal. Loneliness is devastating.
I agree it's probably ideal for most people.
I’ve never had a friend with whom some form of daily/near-daily contact worked out, in the long run…
Ever.
Not to say that it wouldn’t be ideal, or that I’m not appallingly lonely. Just that I’ve never had a friend like that, who would be there through the ups and downs, who wouldn’t judge, and who could bring themselves to put in that effort…
I just can’t imagine what that would be like, honestly.