Episode Summary
It’s been a week now since I shared my struggles with my new girlfriend. Doing that was a groundbreaking milestone in facing my challenges.
Since then I have had a few other conversations with her and in this episode I share my thoughts and feelings about what has happened since sharing.
I still don’t anticipate sharing with anyone else, but for now I explain why it has been good for me to share with my girlfriend.
Episode Show Notes
00:13 – The background to this episode. The stigma of depression and why I was reluctant to share my struggles with my new girlfriend.
01:24 – How sharing has burst the mental bubble of the stigma (of sharing with my girlfriend).
02:25 – My experiences of sharing with my new girlfriend.
03:36 – How I am feeling right now and how even though I feel good, sharing about the past is good for me.
04:00 – The positive that has come out of sharing my experience of being sat on the end of my bed with a noose around my neck.
05:10 – What it felt like explaining that I was putting all my affairs in order so that my brother wouldn’t waste any time trying to figure things out after I was gone.
05:41 – I now realise just how lucky I am to have broken that thought process and not gone through with it.
06:28 – How I now see that my poor quality thinking led to poor quality brain chemistry which led to further poor quality thinking.
06:59 – Why I believe sharing these experiences and thoughts now when I feel good, undermines their power or hold over me if ever I become low again in the future.
07:26 – I now feel stronger because of sharing, not weaker.
08:35 – The experience of sharing my struggles has strengthened my resolve to deal with them on an ongoing basis.
09:06 – Having this open dialogue with my girlfriend has set the standard for the quality of the communication in our relationship for the future.
10:01 – If you don’t have anyone who is close to you that you feel you can share your feelings with, there are trained professionals who you can turn to.
11:52 – Talking about your challenges and sharing your problems with someone else stops them from being blown out of proportion in your mind.
