I've found it essential Lesley.
I nearly went through a complete and utter meltdown concentrating on this stuff before.
The feeling of hopelessness became all pervasive. You were an ant trying to move a mountain.
You can easily feel guilty for enjoying something while someone else sufffers.

Then it dawns on you, most of them want the opportunity you have and you are squandering it poking lances at windmills.
Do what you can, when you can, but there is a very real defiance in retaining some quality in your own life.
It's hard to dance when you're on your knees. Fuck em!

I think you have to take your happiness where you find it. I had a terrible period of depression a couple of years ago. On a good day I would force myself to go out for a short walk. I remember looking at some dandelions and thinking how beautiful they were. That was the only bit of goodness I had to cling to in that moment.

LesleyPumpshaft wrote: I hear ya girl.

Depression sucks the soul out of you. Tells you you're unworthy of your next breath and keeps you isolated from anyone who might convince you otherwise.
The most unlikely thing can sometimes sneak past that barrier though and remind you what loveliness is still around you.

I'm glad you escaped.

LesleyPumpshaft wrote:
Ah, the beautiful Teeth Of The Lion... (les dents de lyon). Luv 'um.

Yes, I've had my times of depression too, lesley, and it's a deep hole to dig out of. A very long journey up again. I have a strong tendency to dig too deeply into things, coupled with an over-strong sense of empathy - which is a very bad combination.

Although it might seem like a "head in the sand" attitude, nowadays I don't want to know about stuff that I can't DO anything about. I want to know about anything and everything I can do something about; but nothing else. It's how I get by.

Gilly wrote:
Gilly: I know exactly what you mean, which is why I enjoyed a long break from any forum activity after leaving the DI forum.

For you, and all those who commented that they have been feeling down, then I can only say that nature is the great healer. Get out and immerse yourself in it whenever you can. Maybe switch whatever research focus you had to nature / health related issues, whether gardening, food and drink, whatever. Nobody should feel that they have to be adding comments to threads that they are currently not interested in reading, even though at another time the interest may be there.

Batou: You are not "guilty" of not contributing much, but maybe you are wise enough not to contribute. My frustration is with those few, but often persistent few, who feel the need to make constant negative, supposedly witty, wise guy comments, that derail and ruin what could be constructive threads. It doesn't happen too often here, although there are examples, but on the DI Forum it was impossible to discuss anything sometimes without the usual suspects butting in with the same old routines we'd heard a million times before.

Better to be a passive reader of a thread where one doesn't feel qualified to contribute than, to take one example, where someone posted a number of times in a categorical way that something was BS, and later added "although I haven't researched the subject much myself" or words to that effect.

There are sections of this forum that are a joy to read, but as I wrote, I feel that the Today's News (and General) sections would benefit if a handful of people stopped spoiling threads with wise guy cracks or derailing them with the same old political agendas and circular arguments we've heard so many times before. If we can achieve that, then hopefully people will feel more confident about sticking their necks out with ideas and thoughts that might not always prove to be correct, but provide the potential for opening new perspectives.

feather wrote:
Depression is just something that happens to people, most get through it fortunately.

Feather & Cantata, some people are more prone to depression. If you look at personality types, the melancholic personality is most prone to depression, but they are also deep thinkers and responsible. It is said to be the richest of all temperaments, but at the largest cost.

There's no shame in having a melancholic personality, and there's nothing wrong with a person who has this temperament . Other personalities have their strengths and weaknesses too.

I'm glad to say I've never suffered from depression, and have a heck of a lot of sympathy for those who do. Nah, I'm just zombified by a cocktail of pain-killers, blood-pressure tablets, and acid surpressors. They're making me nauseous, fatigued and dim-witted.

Anyways, I get what you're saying Anthony, and well know that you yourself understand the power of laughter.

Anthony65 wrote:
I've said before that I think topics get started in general that don't really belong there and would perhaps be better placed in Members Chat, in some ways that contributes to some of the wisecrackery ending up there.

I'll hold up the Money is unnecessary thread as an example of how people here are learning how to approach such subjects though. To start off with, we were all just posting from different angles, rapid fire and not really getting anywhere. It developed though that we kind of worked out that it's a subject that needs a more systematic approach. I personally think that was a good development. We all have different thoughts after all, some of which people feel very passionate about. That systematic approach could and hopefully will stop things descending into hap hazard argument. It will also hopefully encourage less vocal contributors to get involved.

Of course there is always the option of not reading a thread if it grates on you in the same way as not posting if you aren't really contributing is always an option as you point out.

I think there is a bit of confusion about what the SZ really is. I've never been under the impression that SZ is a site focussed on conspiracies and associated stuff and I've been here since pretty much day 1 (thanks to Sean I missed the first week or two of the old SZ1). This place is so much more than a conspiracy site. Kudos to Frog to putting hours of effort into c5reating the various zones etc which will hopefully gain in popularity. Then we have the networking side of things here, the self help discussions and real world stuff. Just ask Oioioi about his new veg plot .

Ultimately Anthony, this place is what you, me and everyone else make of it so get stuck in, start threads in areas of interest to you, smack people's bums if they are straying too far off topic or whatever. This isn't the DIF And keep smiling

Well said that man.

Ab Origine wrote:
get a room

batou wrote:
We do, as well you know norty

batou wrote:
Jealousy...

it was just a suggestion. i was gonna meet you guys in there.

3 weeks in the Greek countryside mean I'll most likely not be around for 3 weeks, urban internet being bad enough here!

Look after the place and try and appoint someone to fuck the cunts off in my absence

oioioi wrote:
Have a good one and no gardening before you leave this time

Away for the next week myself so I'll expect nothing short of everyones best behaviour whilst I'm gone

psketti wrote:
Me old fella's here so I got him to finish the forking that finished me off last weekend

She's all covered up and tucked in now awaiting my return to her fertile loveliness

With you two gone we will have to appoint someone new to swear at the trolls.

oioioi wrote:
I couldn't possibly comment

novum wrote:

Can I nominate dante and space bandit?

psketti wrote:
Sure, as for me I think i will nominate the old bag to keep them sorted.