Moods

[help]

I'm a third year guy - I'm a bit messed up at the moment and I just wanted to write how I'm feeling (and how I've felt for a long time) and ask if this is how "normal" people feel or is there something wrong with me??

Sometimes I wake up and feel I can take on the world.

I look in the mirror and the reflection is good looking, confident, unstoppable.
I'm able to concentrate and talk to people.
Meeting new people is fun and I'm good at it.
I'm funny, I'm one of the group, I feel alive when life throws a challenge at me.
I'm collected, calm , witty , excited, giddy ... sometimes it gets too much and I've got boundless amounts of energy, I feel like I want to run out of whatever I'm doing and go and do something exciting and demanding!!
I put maximum effort in to everythning and achieve the best.

But other days I wake up, and the reflection is different... its ugly, its undesirable and its nervous.

Conversations are terrifying, people intimidate me, I cant concentrate on what the people are saying.

Meeting new people scares me, I come accross as boring and uninteresting while I myself am almost sick with nerves.
I cant remember what I wanted to say.
I'm weird, withdrawn, an outcast.
I cant concentrate.
I'm profoundly sad.
I feel like I could cry - I want to cry - But I dont know why.
I feel despondant and feel like whats the point?
I do the minimum necessary to get by .. possibly less.


I seem to get weeks of the bad days and every now and again I get a few good days.

Is this normal?? Do you guys have such severe mood swings or do you think something is up???

Be Kind

[turtle]

everyone goes through bad patches.
i'd probably say your situation sounds a little more severe, perhaps, than most, but it happens to everyone, man.

[cb55]

Beer. Now there's a temporary solution. --Homer Simpson

[Henry]

I know exactly what you are talking about.

[jennyo]

I think everyone goes through both of those situations -- I know I feel like a mix of the two on most days. But if your bad ones are outnumbering the good maybe you should talk to some sort of doctor/counsellor/advice-giving type to try to sort out what's wrong and what you can do about it?

There was a thread on the Advice board a few days ago about who to see in the university if depression and illness are getting in the way of studies/normal life, some of the names on there might be helpful to you as well -- people in Student Support Services, that sort of thing.
Good luck, hope things work out!

[hr]On a rainy day when the wind gets wild
My untamed mind wakes up -Tagore

[Saint Sal]

The best thing to do is to go and see a doctor about it - and I know it's easier said than done. The signs that you are showing are depressive, and the best thing to do is to go and see someone. They're realy friendly, they won't bite, and they see people with depression every day so they know what they are talking about. Honestly, it is shocking how many people in St Andrews have got it, it really is.

[Henry]

Reading Matthew Parris' autobiography is helping me to cope with my own depression, because I know that there is someone else out there who has gone through what I am going through now.

[Bonnie]

but from what you have described and from experiences I've had with friends, seeing a counselor would be your best bet.
If nothing else, Nightline can listen. 462266.
Better safe and happy than staying sorry. If it is something like bi-polar syndrome of manic depression, there are ways to help.