Work and my illness

Leave a comment

I was at a real low. No work. Relying on my partner for food and a roof over my head.

I wanted some self respect back.

I applied for all kinds of jobs.

170 plus job applications to Jobs I had been doing all my career and nothing. No interviews or even a sniff of work.

So I started applying for casual work.

I got a great job with Royal Mail sorting mail. I absolutely loved it. But the contact ended.

I then applied for stores and got a job at HB.

I got a chance at an interview and smashed it. I got a induction date. I was so excited that someone was giving me the opportunity.

I went for the induction because I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself.

I did the first day of training and hated every minute.

Smile to the customers. Make … Read the rest

Life’s rollercoaster

Leave a comment

I haven’t posted in over a week. And what a strange couple of weeks it has been.

I am back at my partners house after leaving for a few days to get my head straight from weeks of peaking and plummeting.

I completed my CBT a few days ago and now feel I have the information to completely change how I approach situations and how I react to negativity around me in a way that doesn’t trigger my depression. It’s going to take some time, but I am going to do it. I am determined to work extremely hard to make sure I progress mentally.

I have been over-thinking constantly for the past few weeks. It’s been so tiring. My head is like an over crowded train and the end of the track is broken and below the track there is a canyon called Despair. If I don’t stop the … Read the rest

Owning up to your thoughts

Leave a comment

I’ve had a few confusing and upsetting days of late. The feelings of uselessness and hopelessness have taken over and nearly ruined my days with my girlfriend. I was so upset at a moment, and reacted badly, that I got in the car and drove off for an while. I am struggling with dealing with small, some would say, incidental situations. This is why I am going and have Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). To help me think about my thoughts (I know that sounds strange) and change how I react to the world around me.

Taking CBT is making me realise that owning your own thoughts and not projecting is the first step to truly changing. That includes owning up to how you are and your depression. And how your thoughts and actions can impact on others.

I now realise that admitting to yourself and others, that you have depression … Read the rest

Today’s daily depressive thoughts

Leave a comment

I’m tired and lost

I don’t know which I am the most

The truth about me … I’m lonely. I always want to be alone. Away from this life, I don’t want to call my own

I can’t connect with anything.

I feel hollow and numb. I very attempt to think sends me tired.

The sound of someone eating, the breath of a loved one, the crash of cutlery, the scrape of a plate sends me cold.

I can’t find the right things to say or do, but when I do it’s the same old shit that’s been in my head for years.

I’ve got stress coming from all sides

It’s all in my mind is all I hear

What does “me” mean? How and when do you know who you truly are?

I am already at a time in my life where I don’t care about what people think … Read the rest

Being genuine and honest

Leave a comment

Being honest and genuine is something, as a creative dealing with depression, I have to deal with on a daily basis.

No just in daily life but with my work.

There are so many creatives out there making a living copying other creatives work and passing it off as their own original work.

There are many fan artists out there making a living copying large companies work, characters, ideas, and passing them off as their own work.

As you can see from my crazy and mad illustrations that I spend all my time making sure my work is original and cannot found anywhere else.

I find it extremely frustrating to see artists like this all over the place, especially when it is so difficult to create something original and make it a success.

This is only a rant, I’m really sorry if it offends but I’m illustrating everyday and every … Read the rest

When life doesn’t get better

Leave a comment

Today I want to talk about how my life is. I haven’t posted like this for a while because I have been so wrapped up in holding things together.

I have been to m CBT each week for the last four weeks. I am still on my meds. I am still sending my CV out for work and getting nothing back. I am still doodling and creating colouring books in the hope that something will come my way.

The reason I want to create this post is to let you know how I am coping with my depression and all the life changes.

The answer is: not very well. I spend most of my days battling my depression and trying not to call my son asking him to come and rescue me from myself. I battle telling my girlfriend that I want to be on my own and away from … Read the rest

Living a normal life with the monkeys

Leave a comment

In a world where everyone seems to want a voice, wants to be a YouTube star or a successful world-renowned artist, what it normal!?

The dictionary definition is:

normal
ˈnɔːm(ə)l/Submit
adjective
1.
conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.
“it’s quite normal for puppies to bolt their food”
synonyms: usual, standard, typical, stock, common, ordinary, customary, conventional, habitual, accustomed, expected, wonted, everyday, regular, routine, day-to-day, daily, established, settled, set, fixed, traditional, quotidian, prevailing More

It was a rhetorical question in the beginning, but I think it’s worth asking. My personal explanation is; there’s no such thing as normal. Everyone has their own filter. Their own life experiences which they filter the world around them with. If you’ve got monkeys in your head, as I have, it’s adds a whole other complex dimension to that filter.

If you’ve had a tough childhood, been bullied at all or have any kind … Read the rest

What the fuck is wrong with me!?

Leave a comment

Well the trip to Samye Ling went well. Apart from my two meltdowns, it was a great weekend.

I’m so focused on everything going wrong that I’m missing all the times that are right. I’m so untrusting that I make life with me almost unbearable. Why would anyone want to be with someone like that. It makes no sense.

I don’t feel right for anyone.

I was supposed to have my CBT yesterday and it was cancelled. Instead of spending a nice day with my partner. It turned into a shit day because I can’t keep my thoughts in check. I’m a fucking moron. And, if fucking autocorrects to ducking one more time, I’m going to pinch my own eye till all I can see is blackness.

My mind is a pile of shit sometimes. And it’s connected to the stupid hole in the front of my face that makes … Read the rest

Well deserved trip to Samye Ling

Leave a comment

Me and my partner are just about to set off on a trip to one of my favourite places in the world … Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery in Scotland.

I have never been with anyone else. This will be a different trip to the last time I went back in 2012.

Back then I needed to be away from everything and everyone to recentre and find myself. Now I know that sounds pretentious and hippy-dippy but it’s true. I was going through an awful time and needed to just figure out my own head and where I was in my life back then.

To some degree it worked. I was definitely calmer that I was before I went. I definitely knew where i needed to go next and I felt a sense of purpose like never before. Then only problem was; I wanted and needed a less stressful life. So … Read the rest

Doodling and depression

Leave a comment

What I want to talk about is how doodling and drawing helped me recover from my worst episode of depression in 2012.

The year before (2011) I had lost my job, house and car. I was renting my mums house and was on benefits. I had no idea where my life was going and how I was going to get well again. I was in a cycle of working too hard and allowing my depression to take hold. I once again let it take everything I had worked hard for. I was completely lost.

As part of the promotional work, for the company I was trying to create in 2012, I started to draw strange and intricate doodle illustrations as a way of connecting with potential customers. One is pictured below:

At the time I didn’t know important these mad illustrations would be in my recovery with manic depression. Or … Read the rest

1 2 3