Depression....

[bobbywalter]

Reminds me of what the old truckers say...

"No matter how big the hill, no matter how heavy the load, gear that bitch down and keep the pistons poundin"

........until holes melted through the pistons.


one thing i have learned studying discoveries collins made based upon surprises in the genome.....we(humans) do not have a diet...and our chemistry is fragile in relations of reason and logic as in the way we are now having the sentient communication as you read and understand this.

real depression due to imbalance is a horrifically difficult situation one can find themselves in....

things that complicate it are vast....

world view is a huge factor.

technology is the razor sharp quadruple edged sword we as a society recklessly cartwheel upon in a drunken stupor at this point in time.


synthetic medication being part of that technology and maybe the sharpest edge...


the known knowledge of the whole world is in your hand in that brain phone....

yet some would compare a outfit to some others as an issue that matters on the facebullshit.

human life in the mean streets of chicago has a seemingly zero value.....with the knowledge of the whole fawking world in the palm of their hands. what is the excuse for that reality.....

can chemicals fix that?

or are the chemicals causing it.?.?.?


i really do feel different about these issues as a middle aged father of 5 and grandfather of 3...

 

[1986RangerXL]

Reminds me of what the old truckers say...

"No matter how big the hill, no matter how heavy the load, gear that bitch down and keep the pistons poundin"

I was diagnosed with reoccurring severe clinical depression when I was 17 but had been fighting since I was 10. Suicidal thoughts come and go at least every other day and I have tried three times. Your quote resonated w/ me because that's how I've survived, and the biggest thing I would tell someone else who's struggling. Keep going every day- even if you don't know why or how.

 

[adsm08]

I wasn't around much when DG stopped posting... did he sell the truck and sign off or did he just stop posting?

To my knowledge he was not going to sell his truck. He was in a bad place mentally, said he was going to unplug, go travel, drive around to places he used to go with his son, and that he probably wouldn't be back. Then he signed off and hasn't responded to any on or off forum communication that I am aware of since.

I don't remember his exact words, but it didn't sound ominous or suicidal to me, more like he was going to try more of a simple existence. I have known a few people who have had losses they had a very hard time dealing with and had to change their whole lives, and cut ties with everything that came before to deal with it. I like to think that is what happened to him.

 

[bobbywalter]

i really looked forward to meeting him. eat some gumbo and drink some PA shine...

 

[Jim Oaks]

Just stopped posting.

A few people tried to track him down but no luck.

I found him. Looks to be doing well, but I didn't reach out to him. I was afraid he'd be upset that I tracked him down.

 

[RobbieD]

I found him. Looks to be doing well, but I didn't reach out to him. I was afraid he'd be upset that I tracked him down.

I'm glad to hear that. Thank you, Jim, for posting that, and you did the right thing.

 

[North Idaho 5.oh]

Hey Jim , I wanted to thank you for your support outside of trucks! Means a lot knowing that you’re a real and genuine person with genuine and legitimate concern. I have been going thru some stuff this past few weeks with my brother Going to the hospital and almost dying. He is my best friend and I would be lost without him.

 

[Blmpkn]

I'm thankful I don't struggle *as much* with anxiety as I have in the past, but I still deal with depression.

 

[justlexi]

I feel like anxiety hits me because of my work. I am trying to talk to my family and friends about it just so that I can feel better and so far it works.

 

[gaz]

I spent the 1st half of my life trying to die, not even realizing it. Just pushing it, driving on drugs and drunk, motorcycles, boats...just pushing it.

Then one day, unsuccessful at dying I woke up a decided that there was more and pursued it. Started a new career, met a woman that seemed to care about me. Several years later I learn that see was a drug addict prostitute, selling my life's accomplishment for her next pico n score.

She eventually used everything but my 2 great children and those 2 silly 87 Ford's to support her habbit.

This did not digest well with me, I felt betrayed but was a single parent of 2 and simply knew that I would need to be the one to hold it together. When that need stopped, I fell apart.

I am still picking up the pieces, some days are better than others. I feel very fortunate that my father was able to teach me what he did, in his few short years.

He taught me to ride a bicycle, throw a frisbee and to sail; good thing I learned this before I was 8 ..). The cool part was figuring out the why's. Why did it need to be Columbus steel.

Only recently was this revieled to me; opon which, I did my best to pass the understanding, onto my son. I built him a road bicycle build with at least Columbus steel. He has riden several styles bicycles but fears he may never like another more. We both recently bought 1998 Buenos Aires, Greg LeMond road bikes. Not the full blown "race" setup but it's touring, triple crank brother.

Life can get better, by chance or choice but we sometimes have both. I believe that if we appreciate that we have a choice, it can becomes easier (Carl Young felt the same way).

 

[thomasquwack]

I agree with most of that. But I don’t think true depression is a choice. It can actually rob you of your choice to feel a certain way. It can paralyze you until you get help.

Pessimism, self-pity, etc. are choices. I had a coworker years ago who was always in a “woe is me. I always have bad luck. Nothing good ever happens to me.” Kind of attitude. I was always trying to point out the good things in his life. Always told him “You can’t just sit back doing nothing and letting life happen to you. If you want your life to be better you have to grab the steering wheel and drive. Take active positive steps toward making your life the way you want it to be. Bad stuff will still happen. But if you’re driving you can control Your reaction to the bad stuff and make better results come from it.”

Often, if you focus on others instead of yourself, you don’t notice your own misfortune nearly as much and it won’t affect you as much.

Sorry for necroposting a bit, but I've been struggling with depression for a long time. More than half my life, I reckon. My shithead father would treat a stranger better than he'd treat his own flesh and blood, and that really affects a child growing up. If anybody else treated any of my family like he did, that person would be six feet under.
Combine that with Autism (social things don't come easy), several friends dying in the span of a week, and my father's attempted suicide by way of slicing his throat (the same way I considered doing it), I entered adulthood a fucking wreck.

And I still am a bit of a wreck. But through the years of recovery, I've learned a few things, but one is more important than all the others-
You've got to love yourself before you can love anybody else. That was the best piece of advice my father ever gave me, despite not following it himself. I spent years learning that, trying to fix others problems, trying to do what other people thought would make me happy, doing what would make others happy to my detriment. And all it did was hurt me and hurt the people I loved.
And then I stopped. I started doing things I wanted to do. I started realizing who I was, I started asking for help instead of trying to give it to everyone else.
I started treating myself as a person worthy of my own love, and it's made all the difference.

I am still struggling, of course. This shit doesn't go away; at the very least, it doesn't in my family. All of my older siblings have confirmed that- the burden doesn't go away. But you get stronger. You get smarter. You learn about yourself, and what you need to do to get through, and to live your life.

I type this on the toilet after playing a session of fucking Dungeons and Dragons with a great group of friends. Life never stops being weird, but it gets better.
You have the power to make it better.

P.S. I do take antidepressants and I see a psychologist every week, and it's helped tremendously. There's no shame in getting help, but I've found personally that the shame comes from getting help you didn't ask for. So, learn to ask for help when you need it, and you'll find that you need to ask for less and less.

 

[sgtsandman]

With threads like this, there is no necroposting. You are using it as it was intended.

 

[snoranger]

I need to bring this thread back up. My neighbor committed suicide over the holiday weekend. She was in her mid 60s and had a long history of depression. She leaves behind a husband, a daughter, and 2 grandchildren who are all beside themselves with grief and agony, they all feel as like they could have stopped it if they had known what she was planning.
Here a little excerpt from her daughters FB post:

Their daughter truly believes it was her fault that her mother was depressed and committed suicide. It’s a very sad situation for the family and especially the daughter.
If you or someone you know needs help… get it. It must be a horrible feeling for a child to believe that they are the reason that their mother took her own life.

 

[Ranger850]

Their daughter truly believes it was her fault that her mother was depressed and committed suicide. It’s a very sad situation for the family and especially the daughter.

This is how the cycle goes. Now you're neighbor's daughter is depressed, because she feels like she is/was the source of her mother's depression AND suicide, and she battles it. Probably in her 40's or late 30's now, and will dwell on this for the next 20 +- years into her 60's. I hope she get's the attention she needs.

 

[Lefty]

Some of you know that I have friends who use my garage. Truth be known, they are all struggling with mental health problems. They are all in treatment, but the whole idea of the garage is for guys to come over, hang out together, and maybe even turn a wrench or two. You're very right about working on trucks. Mine is looking and running just fine, but I work on it anyway, just because i love projects and hanging out with my friends.

And nothing, but nothing in the whole wide world, is quite as exciting as going to the Upull yard, finding THE PART, THE RIGHT PART, the one you been waiting for...and then to learn it's only $10.95.

Restoring a Ranger is really what gets one of my friends out of bed in the morning. We are both thinking about buying another Ranger this spring, not because there's anything wrong with ours, but because fixing them up is just plain fun to do!