Dealing with depression, when self employed..

Dealing with depression, when self employed.

Back when I started my first biz I used to be really depressed, 3 days a month I'd wake up and have a cloud following me about.. No amount of good news would shift it.

I got diagnosed with depression from docs and had Prozac prescribed.. Then everything changed, I stopped being depressed. You know what changed?

Action, doing stuff..doing stuff moved me on, moved me forward, I come across a lot of 4Netters each week and many of whom also suffer from depression.

Honestly if you'd have asked me prior to my action phase, I'd ha said I was a manic depressive.

You can self medicate, do stuff, move your biz on and recognise that you can't always get it rigt, but even making mistakes moves you on.

Start doing stuff and watch the clouds of depression... Blow away.

You are surrounded by other 4Netters who may well be in the same boat, help each other.. If my experiences is anything to go on, You may just be a few actions from feeling better..

Well said. I've never got to the "self medication" stage, but we all have doubts, days when things just don't go right, dark clouds all around.

I've got lots of things I know I need to do in my business, lots of conflicting pressures, uncertainties, cash flow problems, lack of finance to build the business, but there's no point in dwelling too long on the negatives.

I've learned to accept that I can't do everything that could be possible in my business, and that's not a failure.

And funnily enough, when I started to accept that I should just do the right things as much as I could, that's when business started to flow.

I agree with most of this - definitely do

However, this won't solve all depression - and those that are in need should follow medical advice (as well as all the doing obvs). Plenty of people with active lives have depression and to not medicate could be very damaging potentially.

Could be talking nonsense as i've not experienced this first hand but have seen some perfectly happy people with a lot going on in their lives be affected by this. Makes you think.

 

Or take the Or take the easy way out

 

 

What a total knob head thing to say Kevin.

Brad, I love you for talking about the things that others shy away from admitting. You rock.

I've had battles with the Black Dog of depression over a number of times in my life - and looking back on it now, I think I was heading down that road when we first met at the Make It Happen Monday pilot.

That day changed my life.Looking back, as well as the incredible support from some in the room, the biggest thing I changed was that I listened to the collective wisdom of those in the room and, to coin a phrase, got off my arse and did stuff. Little baby steps to start with, but that didn't matter, it was progress. I gave up waiting for everything to be perfect before I started. I got out there, listened to the market, worked out how I could fit my skills to an offering that others wanted, talked to people... It might not have been big stuff, but I did something to move forward.

I may still be stressed - that's another story - but depression - nah!

Doing stuff. Can't beat it. It works.

Being honest about where you're at and how you're feeling and the tough patches. That's novel for a business network, but that works too.

+1

 

 

Thanks for sharing L, you are rightI'd have stressed over depressed any day.

Do you think that was the easy way out for PC Rathband Kev. Do you think anyone who takes their own life thinks it is the easy way out.

Offensive Kev.

I dont think there is a one size fits all solution for depression.

For example my method is to sit around feeling sorry for myself for a few days, maybe even a week, and then pick myself up by the scruf of the neck and give myself a good talking to. It sounds mad but it works for me.

I have seen others who have benefited from a few weeks of medication to help themselves get their lives back together, but the causes of depression were very different.

You could be depressed over the loss of a loved one - this (in most cases) is temporary and a short dose of medication maybe enough to get your life back in order. If your depression is more long term, I have doubts that medication is the right answer as you will be just masking the symptoms and not treating the cause - in these cases you need to take action and address the root problems and not hide the symptoms

You are rigt Carl, no one size fits all.. I just sharing what worked for me.. And I'd suffered from it for 20 years..

I am quite the opposite at the moment and feel very depressed that I am giving up self employment. Hopefully I will get a light job a few days a week and it will lift me luckily I have always been very happy in my work  MIGHTY COLIN

I've been lucky not to really be hit by severe depression - the nearest I came was after I lost my partner to cancer and the doc suggested pills but I decided to wait for bereavement counselling, which was the better option for me. Apart from anything else, he reckoned it would take a few months for the pills to have an effect whereas it was only a six-week wait for counselling and I'm notoriously impatient!

Coincidentally I just had a really frustrating day today with lots of annoying situations, but I also had an email from someone I met yesterday at a networking event Brighouse Link (sorry not 4N on this occasion), Stephen R Collins, who has had cerebral palsy since birth but this hasn't stopped him setting up his own business. I watched the video on his website and it's a good reminder that if someone facing so many challenges in life can make it work, then we all can.

For anyone interested, you can find it here: http://www.lazarusmobility.com/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=200 and he's on Twitter as @MrLazarus

Its an interesting subject for me at the moment. Mum passed away a month ago and me, my dad and my brother and sister seem to be handling in our own different ways.

My dad is throwing himself in to any hobby he can find, my sister who has other things to cope with is using a short course of medication and my brother has chucked himself in to work (like me).

I have suffered from Depression since 2005 and even though I am now off medication I still have it.

Since I became self employed last September I thought am I doing the right thing because it could trigger off again but touch wood Im focused and yes admit I do have off days but I dont want to go back to the dark days and shutting myself away from everyone including my husband and kids ( I lived in my bedroom for months) and surrounding myself with people I can trust has helped me too.

Everytime I hear that on the news that someone has taken there own life I know how they feel because I have been there too.

Finally Kev what an utter and complete dickhead your are!