Day 18
Today definitely felt harder than yesterday. I was at work and I felt small moments of stress creeping it. I was able to catch myself and think calmly though and that’s really what these anti-depressants are allowing me to do. They’re calming, soothing my irrational thoughts and helping me deal with them better. I know they’re not a miracle drug that will make my life perfect, that’s for me to do, but they do seem to be making my life easier.
Tonight I had a gig at a really well established venue so the pressure was on to perform. The audience were polite but not hugely engaged. I went on in the second half and got some good laughs in places. An audience member came up to me afterwards to mention how he’d particularly enjoyed a joke I have about breaking up with my gas and electric supplier. I learnt a lot from the gig and also felt much happier on stage than I had in a long time – before I started taking my anti-depressants. They’ve given me my stage mojo back and now I can focus on polishing up the other parts again.
I don’t worry so much about the future now, that was a huge factor in my depression. I would sit and get trapped in endless thought cycles about everything that could go wrong in my life. And then I started to believe those thoughts. I started to convince myself that I wasn’t good enough to achieve anything because I hadn’t achieved enough yet, and I couldn’t imagine a future where I did. But now I’m starting to believe in myself, I have to and I want to. It’s such a cliche I know but it’s so true, if you don’t believe in yourself you won’t ever get anywhere.
Right now I’m focusing on the near future and the present, rather than the distant future and the past. I need to focus on the present to remind myself that everything is ok right now. I’m alive and I have a roof over my head. I can feed myself and I’m not in any immediate danger of dying, it’s like a self risk assessment. And I’m thinking about the near future to put in place plausible plans on how to get from now to then. There’s no point in getting upset or thinking about what my life will be like in 10 years time, or even 5 years, because I have no idea. And what I do right now is the deciding in factor in how my future turns out, so I think from now on I’ll focus on that.
Thanks for reading and I’ll speak to you tomorrow.
Jake
Jake Pickford 
I also focus too much in the past and future. Just yesterday I got upset thinking about how I would be if I didn’t get better in the next 5 years. It just fuels my anxiety and depression. I’ve been trying to stay in the present but it isn’t easy!
LikeLike
I understand that, I spent so long thinking about how quickly my 8 years of employment in a job I hate had gone and how quickly another 8 could go by, it was a terrible cycle of thought to get it. It’s not easy but my Anti-depressants have really helped me. But you’re right it isn’t easy but for the sake of our own mental health we have to try.
LikeLike
The cycle of getting stuck on thoughts about decisions and the future can be so crippling. With me the AD’s are allowing me to focus more on the here and now and today, instead of just worrying about what’s to come. Thanks for sharing man.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading. Glad to hear you’re ADs are helping! Look forward to your next YouTube video too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
haha as am I man! I need to get another video recorded and up soon. I’ve def. dedicated more time to my new blog over my new YouTube channel but I’ll get one up soon man 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person