thank you all (please read my friends)

i just wanna tell my buddys on here that I thank you for all of the help and advice you have given me over the last 6 months or so on life and giving me your help in dealing with it. i just got to caught up in all of it and let things bother me way more than i should have. its so easy to do, but i now see how thats not good for anyone. i was depressed as many of you know for 8 years plus due to many reasons beyond my controll. but thats what ive now finally been able to accept. it is all "beyond" my controll, so why should i let that bother me or direct my life? I just need to focus on me and my well being and do whats best for me and my family (wife and 2 kids). ive slowly cut my depression meds in half a week at a time and got totally off of them. They did help me, BUT, they also made me realize that even when you take those drugs, as relaxed as they make you feel, the problems are still there....so it makes a guy say to himself....its either a life on meds...or just take controll of it all and accept life as it is. Ive been totally off the pills for about 3 weeks now. The side effects of being off of Effexor (shocking feelings mostly, all day) are now gone. I still see how things in my family ( mom and dad relationship) are still the same...its just that now, I can finally just accept that, well thats just how it is. i cannot change anyone at all, except for me. Its all on how i see things and deal with it all. i have learned to just deal with it in a good way. So i want to tell ALL of you thanks for all of the advice and help along the way in my previous posts. I do want to say to MAXAMEYES thanks for the help and responce even though i was a total ass to you the last time i posted. You did help me by being so very blunt haha! But thank you alll, i think Ill be very good and fine with life now. its just all in how you see it and deal with it. All you can do is take care of yourself and family...thats all that matters. Im good now...thanks....

LEE,
It sounds like you've come to some damn good, deep realizations through some profound and painful self-examination. As difficult as it once seemed, as long as you keep going along the path you've started, great accomplishments and a much, deeper appreciation of your abilities and self-worth can only be the result.

You can't believe just how damn glad I am that you've gotten through the initial shock of the CONTENT to appreciate the INTENT.

Self recognition can be a really painful process, but self-realization is such a freeing, rewarding and uplifting experience I think you'll agree now that the journey was and is worth it all.

Just wait; much, much greater rewards, (yes and challenges too!) await you as they do all of us who take the journey. Once you figure out just how damn powerful your inner strength actually is, you won't ever settle for anything less than total self-honesty and self-reliance. And you too will come to expect it from others...just wait n see !

Thanks for the personal nod of thanks, this post of yours is one of the most mature, positive, welcome and fulfilling pieces of short literature I have read in a long, long time.

Not only do I have to thank you and commend you for writing it, but I also hope and encourage you to take this opportunity to think about what this journey's meant to you, what these realizations have meant to you and what your future means to you; so that you may pass on your new-found wisdom in the proper way to someone else who just may need the same little bit of "encouragement" that you did.

Thanks, and congratulations, again.

P.S. If you ever want some advice (for what it's worth) or a good swift kick in the pants; whatever I got rollin' around in my cobweb ridden brain is yours for the pickin' !

Great post! It's such a freeing experience when you no longer feel you have to be on top of everything and "in control." I think so much of our anxiety and depression come from this urge. Good luck with dealing with life without the anti-depressant. I identify with you in many ways. I do know that some of my depression is biochemical, but anxiety only makes it worse.

Well I never knew you before 3lee, but after reading your post I have this to say to you:

WELCOME BACK MAN. HAPPY GAINING! :blush:

good for you 3lee!

i wish you all the best at sticking to this current frame of mind; and as i wish for everyone who deserves it, i do hope that you can feel a sustained bout of happiness at sometime in the not so distant future... it seldom comes looking for you and i believe that you're about to tread the right path to finding it if you keep thinking like you seem to be in this most recent post.

take care, mate.


keep pushing