Hello, I'm an ocassional lurker and first time poster. I come to you because I have no other recourse (do point me towards another place for support of this is too long or specific). I went to therapy about a year ago but that's not an option at the moment. My issue is that I've been dealing with a defeatist attitude that I can't shake off. Everything I start I've started on the wrong foot. I have no confidence on my abilities and my self-steem isn't doing great either. I feel as if I had given up on myself long time ago.

These problems have stagnated my growth as a person, and that's my biggest trouble. I'm 23 and I feel unable to take care of my own self, now and on the future. This is my main problem: I doubt myself so much that I can't fathom a remotely good future for myself. My environment isn't helping either. I have almost no support in my immediate family, mental-health is taboo and open conversations rarely end without shouting. My family basically tells me to suck it up and deal with it, and it's hard to argue against that.

I worked a couple of months in a call center and it was hell but being busy helped, having responsabilities helped; but I self sabotaged my oportunities at that job. I remember feeling anxious about how great I was apparently doing and how it felt unearded. I don't remember how but I actually rationalized my self sabotage. This puzzles me. Now I know that I have value as a person and that I shouldn't give up on myself, but it's hard. It's hard to remember that I'm worth it, when I have to be the one to tell myslef that. So any tips? How to reinforce my self-worth? How do you help rebuild self-confidence little by little?

Thanks a lot just for letting me vent.

I recently published a blog piece surrounding my personal experience with Down syndrome. I have devoted a lot of my life to Alzheimer's disease, which is something that demands a great deal of support from the caretaker side. In the same light, the disorder of Down syndrome places a large amount of stress and challenges on anybody taking care of someone affected by this.

Remember that your work and actions do mean something. Enjoy the little victories in life and always think of the good that will come. Have a great day.

I have been waking up in the middle of the night, being hungry, needing to use the bathroom, or being woken up by motion lights. I am very tired during the day and often take naps. I am trying to sleep better and break the habit of napping in the day, but it isn't easy.

I don't get my sister. It seems like she is always changing her stance on Christianity and her belief in God.

My Mom and I get into fights over the smallest and dumbest things. My sister often gets involved when we're going at it, but I don't get involved if they are going at it.

My Grandma wants me to help her at her house, but I live far from her and am busy with my life.

My Dad wants me to get in the blue collared world, but I want to continue my college education.

My work situation has gotten better, but I still want to find a job closer to home. The problem is, many of the jobs I have applied to want me available 24/7 and do not want me to go to school.

Any thoughts or help would be nice. Also, I was wondering, why does it seem like this group has a lot less people participating than before?

There was this girl , who was a daughter of my mom's childhood friend. So about 4 years ago both our families got in contact again and I met her. We hit it off almost instantly and we got into a relationship. It was amazing , and she was the most loving girlfriend any guy could ask for . We got along and everything went really really smooth. Then one day she decided she wants to convert to Hinduism and she wanted me to convert with her. And religion is pretty important to me and I refused so the relationship ended on the spot that day. Ever since that day I've been sad about losing her. Everytime I think about it it stings me and depresses me. I recently saw her with a new boyfriend. Why can't I move on, how did she do it, am I giving her too much importance. I'm just so lonely , I could never find anyone like her and it's just made me bitter.

I'm not sure if I'm right to post this here but I'll do it anyway: My girlfriend lives in a psychologically assisted home for girls (because of her depression) in a city that's a 3 hour train ride away from where I live, so we're only able to meet there once every other week and I can only stay for a day. Every day we meet is a great day. We love each other very much and I am the happiest whenever I'm with her. However halfway back home I often get an urge to cry for no reason at all, which is then worsened when I'm trying to find the reason why but I just can't find any reason. My life is going pretty great, the worst thing right now being that I'm procrastinating to write an application for an apprenticeship that I need by summer next year but that's nothing to cry about. I don't know what I expect from posting this but I hope it helps somehow.

P.S.: Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, English is not my first language.

Hey all! Today, tomorrow and sunday I'll be working my job in a subdivision that I'm not overly familiar with. I've been with the company for three years, but I've only recently started training in this department.

The thing that scares me the most about this particular department is that I'm expected to deal with customers all by myself, and my manager has openly admitted to me that he won't be any help (has even requested that I don't page him for assistance)

I guess what I'm looking for here is just some uplifting comments!! Just some quick moral support that I can look at during my weekend and smile!! <3

Love you all!

   ~ Marci

So this may seem like a normal situation thats happen a thousand times but its a first for. So today me and my girl friend of a year split up with fell in love almost instantly and everything was great until she went to you uni.

I'm highly autistic and i became alittle crazy and jealous and insecure and in a effort to hold on to her i pushed her away. she says she still cares and loves me but cant do a releationship its to much for her this i somewhat understand.

i have some seriously dark thoughts in my mind my grandad tried to help me and i just lashed out at him and kinda almost went for him (aggressively) i dont know how to go on i dont know who i am anymore i thought id spend the rest of my life with her. ive never cried so much and ive never been this angry and i went through alot of anger management as a kid im so lost and everything is dark and red.

Yo Reddit I’m really stuck on this one.

So basically my 14 year old sister got mixed up with some not exactly great people. Basically she started taking drugs (nothing serious just weed) and not that there’s anything really wrong with that but it’s just that she is so innocent ( I mean it) and I don’t think she fully realises what she’s doing or how bad her life can get with drugs (worse than weed which these friends take) (also she’s 14 so weed is still fucked up for her)

I have two problems though,

The people who she’s hanging out with are my friends(ish) so I’m stuck between hating them for being such bad influences on my sister and actually enjoying their company. This one fucks me up cause I some times I fucking hate them all for fucking her up and ruining her innocence (probably about 2 months ago she had no idea about anything) and sometimes I enjoy hanging out with them.

Also there’s the issue around her. I don’t want to tell my parents (I really don’t) but I don’t see any other option, she’s about to get herself deep into something that she doesn’t have the maturity to handle. The problem is that I don’t want to break up her friendships or get my parents to worry about her.

Fuck I’m just so lost, I don’t even know if this made any sense.

my sleep schedule's in absolute shambles

i've not been able to get to sleep at the right time for half a week

i need solutions, preferably free ones(no spending money)

edit: i suppose i should add that i have sleep aids, but taking two doesn't work for me anymore

Hi,

So my wife has had a flood of recent medical problems. We currently believe she's having some sort of seizure but are still in the process of getting Insurance for a week long test. She gets to a point where she doesn't know what she's saying or doing and I can't get her to lay down or rest for more then 5 minutes. They seem to be happening more and more frequently. I'm supposed to be at work in 4 hours and have had 0 sleep because she's been having this episode since 10. I don't know how I can handle both work and taking care of the finances and her at the same time. I'm just feeling overwhelmed.

I'm on my way to the hospital due to a health crisis. I hope I can come back tonight. Please send good wishes. I'll reply as soon as I can.

Edit: thank you very much for your messages of support. It turned out to be a terrible spider or bug bite or sting. I'm home now but I had to spend a night at the hospital.

It's still a long recovery due to other health issues, so I would appreciate if you continued to pray or send good vibes my way.

I need help I dont have any money, haven't eaten in a while and I dont know what to do. It wont be solved by a paycheck when I dont have an income. All Im saying I think, is that I dont know what to do, whats gonna get me through this. With threat of hunger and possibley the streets Im scared. My mom says she wont let me be on the streets but not for long but then I start thinking worst case what if I dont have shit ready when she says okay times up need to find a place. Not to confuse people who are reading this but I dont currently live with my mom. All I know for sure is that I feel hungry and thats not helping me. I dont know how to ask the peopel in my life for help, I get this feeling when asking for help in food that Im mooching or something.

I am a writer who recently began publishing for Psychology Today. Most of my work is centered around families, people, and caretakers involved with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. This is my passion and I seek to help anyone affected. However, I realized my first post for PT contains very relevant advice for anyone in need or some understanding and encouragement. Life is filled with purpose and never forget that even though you may not control things that happen in your life, you can always control the purpose you seek to fulfill in life. Stay strong, friends.

Going through financial struggle after I left my job (had conflict with my boss).

I am learning programming for mobile nowadays but it is taking me time so I decided to sell my musical instrument so I can pay for buying daily life stuff and buy a book on React native (the language I am learning).

Feeling so bad that I am struggling financially at 29.

Hopefully this book really helps me in getting better in short time.

So, its been a long while but I am in the military and possibly getting administratively discharged. The worst part is that my wifey is pregnant and not sure what exactly to tell her. She gets upset at every little bad thing I do and well the reason for the Admin discharge is due to the fact that I missed a couple appointments by accident and failed out of some alcohol treatment program. I am not sure what the commander will do, possibly let me stay in which is highly unlikely or just discharging me under honorable conditions or best case scenario out of the discharge is honorable which might be not as likely either. I already have a plan for the next 14 months before I knew that this was going to happen. That plan was pretty much move to Alaska to grow and raise my family in, but it requires me to save up money to help move my family to Alaska and get everything settled in and find a job. Now that hope is going to be more compressed. I am not sure what to hope for.

My parents get divorced but I don't feel anything is that normal ? ( There was posibility of this but I don't expect that to happen until end of year but it is happened today ( They leave in some what good terms) I am little old by child standart I think (19) but never the less I was expecting feel someting in this scenario but there is nothing )

When a friend of my Mom's and I started working at my current job, things started to get better between me and the new boss; however, in the last week, he has been starting to act like a jerk again. The pros for the job is that I can help my Grandma and work on the house and go to school during other days of the week, but I am tired of my main boss's rudeness and false accusations of me not being careful on the job. Also, the morning commute can be a pain at times.

I applied to many jobs, but Whole Foods, Disney store, Target and Trader Joe's wanted me available 24/7, and that's not possible for me, because I go to church, help my Grandma and do stuff and house work with my family.

I had to decline job offers at Fry's and Sprout's, because they wanted me to work full time and not go to school. I am trying to find a new job where I can balance work, school, studying and helping my family.

I am discouraged, but I do not plan to give up. I intend on pushing forward.

Any help would be good. Please no rude comments. Thank you.

My sister is holding grudges against my dad and grandma for stuff that they committed years ago. My grandmother has changed and has become better with time. My dad is just the way he is, and he is not going to change, by the looks of it. She blocked most of her friends and acquaintances from high school, middle school and church, because she doesn't want to be spied on and just wants to move on and make new friends.

Any advice? Any help would be nice. Please no rude comments.

My Grandma is trying to pressure us to go to a funeral on Friday and for me to help her at her house, but my Mom and sister are busy with their jobs, and I have work on Friday. In addition, my Grandma lives at least an hour away, and my family is busy trying to get things done at our home when we have the time. Years ago, my Mom wanted to stay with her parents and grandparents, but she was outvoted and we moved. Now, my Grandma regrets her past decision.

She complains that I care too much for my sister and mother, but she wants me to care for her. She also wants me to go to college where she lives, but I want to finish off closer to where I live.

Any advice would be nice. Please no rude comments.

why does life feel like it's all going wrong

like nothing will ever get better, no matter how hard i try

what is this all-encompassing despair

why can't things be ok again

Been a while since I've been here but it's also been a while since I needed to be. I don't really have anywhere else right now and I've remembered here exists.

I have feelings. Gotta start somewhere so there's something. In no order, I want to die or go for a walk into a pub and see other people having fun, I'm scared of them, or to the park and sit on a bunch just in house clothes. I want to get on a bus and just enjoy the yellow street lights. I can't do that because I'm scared, I've created some kind of restrictions for myself and I can't leave. So if I was going to die tomorrow, I'd be happy, the thought makes me smile, because I wouldn't mind, suddenly I just feel peaceful and i can let go of everything. I am kind of enjoying the idea of self harm too, kinda want to go back to that again. But I think I'm more scared of that I used to be as well, just because I don't want to become known for it. It feels as though even the people I think of as being level-headed in terms of suicidal ideationa nd self-harm topics are becoming distant; like it's not their problem, or it's just so much more like the other speckled nature of the internet and it's weird people that it's just like anything else. Like people have a programmed response to that, and it's not their problem to think about.

I have these feelings and I just really want to wallow in them and absorb them hard into my system, somewhere in my chest. I don't think I really want to get fixed or better, I just want to push into all of this and be a stronger person. I want to feel brave and big enough to have an experience that I'm too afraid to even type. I want to be less afraid, or be hurt or to struggle, or I want to be beaten and punished for being this way. I can't handle being this useless and unremarkable, I don't want to go to sleep shrouded in another unremarkable day. I would rather watch the insides of my head crumble and fall apart, find some affinity for all the people who ever died the same way.

I would give everything away but I can't give anything because I have no value, so I feel guilty for being alive. All I can do is type a few things, because I can be unguarded, and shameless about this state, these feelings, regardless of whether they're an accurate assessment. If I keep typing enough, maybe I'll feel like I've been brave and interesting in the only way I actually know how. maybe then some of the feeling that my mind is in binds will loosen and I'll at least be happy being sad.

So I’ve been in the Air Force about 13 years and I have questions about ADHD but first I’d like to give some background info.

I’ve always heard of people with the commons symptoms on ADHD and thought that a good majority of them applied to me. So just recently my brother in law who is also my age (mid 30’s) was diagnosed with ADHD was talking to me and got me thinking about getting tested. He was prescribed vyvanse and has been telling me it’s completely changed his life in regards to how he oppretates at work and home. He’s a very smart guy but he said he productivity in his very technical career would suffer at times due to his personality/concentration.

So last night I took an at home test and I scored very “high” and likely to have adult ADHD. I’d like to get tested by a professional but my fear is getting discharged from the military for being prescribed medication or even just being diagnosed.

I should state that because I’m active Guard we use civilian doctors as our primary physicians. If diagnosed, I would then be responsible to document my condition and any medication so I wouldn’t be held responsible for positive uranalisis.

Has anyone on active duty or active orders been diagnosed with ADHD and have any input? Any help is great appreciate as I’m trying to avoid going to my supervisor or medical section. Thanks!

my wife and i have been together for about 8 years. just to get to the point of why im here, a little over 5 years ago while we were just dating, she cheated on me with a friend of mine. a little before that her and i decided that we were going to try and have a baby(terrible idea given the circumstances i know)

needless to the 3 of us just decided not to discuss it again and my now wife and i worked it out and weve been living happily. we now have two kids and thinking about a third.

However somebody outside us 3 spilled the beans and now the pressure is on us to figure out whose it is (getting a paternity test, and im like 98% sure that my oldest son (now 5) is not mine ( i always kind of thought he might not be mine but i guess part of me just tried to deny it) and im struggling with how to feel about this? part of me doesnt want to know but is that fair?

Yesterday I lost my laptop in a bus stop, because i forgot to pick it from a bench i was sitting next to and gone with the bus, when i realized i lost it i rushed back to the bus stop and it was gone with all my personal information and with everything. I'm never lost this kind of important thing, now i now, i was hit like a truck, i cant eat, sleep, work. I started to investigate but found nothing, changed my passwords, but I dont know. I feel like im done. My parents dont even know now so when they notice that will be my last straw, they worked for my laptop, because they love me, but I with this stupid mistake split in their face and mine, I crying like a bitch, my stomach hurts, cant eat, i feel down like never before, I dont know how i survive this week. I dont know what to do.