Finding Meaning During Depression. Why is it SO Hard? | Mended Light

Finding Meaning During Depression. Why is it SO Hard? | Mended Light//

Have you tried finding meaning during the depression and wondered why it is so hard? Depression is a mental health problem and many ask how can depression affect your mental health?

People also wonder is depression a mental health issue and can depression lead to other mental health problems? Depression is widespread in the world today and still, there are so many unknowns. Today, I hope to help with this and bring some answers to depression and its challenges.

#EmotionalWellness
#FindingMeaningDuringDepression
#Mended Light

[MendedLight]

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[riakun]

"Yes, I feel sad about growing old, but I have the opportunity to do so."

I started crying when you said that. I just celebrated my birthday, and I found out a dear friend of mine had died from cancer that he didn't know about, but was killed very quickly by Covid. I found out about this on my birthday. So that struck me very hard.

And you know what, yes, I do feel sad that I growing older, but at least I do have the opportunity to do so.

[elaineb]

Sometimes being there for others can drain a person. I know it has that effect on me. I feel I often go through cycles of being there for people, then needing a time out to recover from all that giving. It's not that I don't like helping others, nor is it that I don't want to make the world better. It just wears me out when all I do is give to people & help people. I'd love a video on how to stop the helper's exhaustion.

Right now I'm going through a bad time, but I still manage to sign petitions to help people in that way. It's not much, but it's something.

[edelweiss]

Finding Cinema Therapy and Mended Light has been somewhat of a miraculous coincidence for me. I found you at such a perfect time. I can't begin to say how comforting and helpful your messages are, you've become a significant part of my healing journey.

[soranoryu]

This video triggered me massively, and I don't think I've seen anyone else complain, but I still want you to know - advice like this, especially coming from a trained psychologist, can very easily slip into toxic positivity.

I have gotten an autism diagnosis at age thirty, meaning I struggled for almost thirty years thinking I was weird, lazy, not trying hard enough despite being burned out since elementary school, and failing to understand why. Getting the diagnosis was a huge relief, and I have been told I am surprisingly optimistic and strong - I've gone through a lot of stuff including periods where I no longer wanted to live, and I always managed to pull myself out because no one would help me do it.

Hearing from my therapist at the time that I 'just needed to think positive' when I told her I was struggling was damaging. I was vibing with the other autistics in therapy only to get back in the real world even less able to mask and understand people, struggling to apply my new knowledge to finally be a good person, the medication I was given failed to up my drive - it only made me more subdued and numb. At the same time, things went south at my horse's stable, there was a divorce happening that ended up getting the place shot down not a year later, and I was trying so hard to 'think positive' that I broke down crying - in the pony's box, in my car, unable to stop - and unably to permit myself to, because there was no reason to cry, everything was fine.
Everything was fine, I don't have a right to complain.
I am priviledged, I even own a pony, I have so many things to be greatful for...

All that does is make me feel like I don't deserve compassion, like I don't have the right to be sad or angry about how hard and lonely it is to never be fully understood or supported.
I'm not trying to blame the system, but I'm honestly sick of blaming myself for not trying hard enough or being optimistic enough, because thinking positive doesn't always help. Especially without further explaination, because I did what you described here BEFORE my therapist told me to think positve.
It felt like they just didn't want to put in the effort to understand or even listen to me.

[latterdaycovenantliving]

I'd love a video focused on the small 1 hour goals i have always heard to start small and felt like it just wasn't enough hope or improvement for my brain to latch on to after hearing this video i wonder if the small goals i had in mind weren't small enough or in the right way I still thought it was pick a small thing like - do named small simple thing every day for the rest of your life so you can do then another small simple thing and eventually a big thing

[NatalieZii]

A big thing that has helped me with my depression is practicing gratitude. Also listing the things that make me feel genuinely happy and then trying to incorporate that into my life in an active way. Too many depressed people have lost touch with what makes them happy. Also connecting with nature and seeing the stable truth of its beauty. Even if human life can suck, nature stays consistent and beautiful.

[analynnberry]

When I’m stuck in a negative thought loop and it’s so pervasive that I’m disassociating and can’t function, I try to find audio or videos with a healthy message like this one to listen to, and that helps my brain re-train my thoughts.

[linsabrina]

I loved the video and I find it extremely helpful as a guide to redirect my negativity in a healthy way.

p.s. just a suggestion for future videos but I find the music to be a tad bit too loud for me to concentrate on your words. I would dial it down a bit since your advice is definitely more important than the bg music.

Looking forward to your future contents :)

[adamnixon]

For me it's often about just letting the feeling pass. Until it does I try to find comfort, often watching something like Pushing Daisies, eating pizza, and spending time with my partner. I'm fortunate my partner worked for a crisis hotline in college and is a good active listener.

[emilyparks]

I’ve never heard the “yes, but…” thing. His explanation of why most positive thinking exercises don’t work for people like me makes so much sense. Those have always felt like I’m lying to myself or not accepting a fault. I think the “yes, but…” will be a game-changer next time I’m on my way to self-loathing territory. Thank you!

[TheLuckyPurse]

I wish this video was made since when I was 12! When I first discovered that I had MDD I was terrified😅 and afraid to admit that I'm doomed😅 I wish I know faster that by admitting what's wrong is the path to figure out what to do to make everything better. You gave the best guidelines for how to handle it if I have to face that moment again in the future! Thank you so much!

[catherinechong]

Thank you for sharing about this topic. It really helps a lot, especially when positive thinking doesn't really work for me and those self defeating thoughts just kept haunting me.

[FormerlyMantisDragon]

I'm definitely sending this to someone I know when they're feeling more ready to message others. They struggle so badly with depression that I've been struggling to help them myself. Of course, in addition to attempting to help this person, I watched this video from start to finish to help myself because I need to find new ways to find meaning in life, especially since the majority of the time I feel rather dull (at best) or I feel like I'm going down a very dark path (at worst)

[tobytallent]

Thanks for what you do here and in cinema therapy. I really enjoyed this video - What I got from it:
- when negative thoughts swirl, say "Yes, but.."
- when guilt is focused on something outside of my control, seek gratitude and a way to serve another
- When I'm serving others, I will more easily see value in my life

Two technical notes
- I find the frequency of cut frames distracting.
- I find the music competes with Jonathon's voice

I love what you guys have set up and the example that you set - thank you for being so open and vulnerable

[ygnit]

We've been in very different depressions if your experience tells you toxic positivity of that sort is helpful. As much as I dearly love the content you usually make on Cinema Therapy especially, I can't see any actual point in this one, and it just triggers me for reasons I can only suspect. There isn't anything beautiful or rewarding in being in inescapable, unfair and crushing circumstances, and no amount of perspective change will make it so

[LRG]

I should've seen this yesterday, last night my mother took me to ER because I was too depressed and she was worried, they put me some meds and I feel better now, but the psychiatrist that saw me told me things like "Everybody have a past and is normal to feel sad sometimes, but there are people that have suffered worse things than you" or "What you feel is not depression, because the depression just get worse and worse and you say that you feel better sometimes", and getting out of the hospital we saw a friend of my mom that worke at the hospital and he said "Take it easy", "Have you break up with your boyfriend?", "why are you crying for? you don't have any problem"
I felt like was my fault to by sad. This 12 minutes have helped me more than 4 hours in ER.

[magicdreemurr]

I've been struggling with depression for the past few months because of spirituality. I understand that people find a lot of power and hope in things like faith and God, and if you are one of those people, I'm very happy for you... but for me, it's been so hard. It's made me feel like I'm broken just for being who I am and the interests I have (I'm an Artist and Writer who's passionate about Video Games and other fictional media).

Whenever I think about people who have faith in an Afterlife, I think about people who don't have that kind of faith, and it brings me down. Death and Annihilation have always terrified me since I was little, but I've learned in more recent years to appreciate the things I have now. The problem is I appreciate them so much, I don't want to lose it. I couldn't care about things like fame, power or wealth... I just care about my family, my friends and my interests... As a matter of fact, I just want all of us to spend an eternity doing what we love the most and what we are most passionate about (yes, even bad people, because at the end of the day, they are still people like us. I'd rather we be flawed with room to grow and learn than to be perfect and know everything).

I'm always watching the things that I say, afraid to make jokes or poke a little fun with sarcasm with my friends because I'm afraid to anger or upset the divine... To clarify one thing, I'm an Agnostic. I believe God exists, but don't believe we can know what God is really like. (Please, if you are religious, don't try to convert me. It doesn't help my anxiety or depression. It just feels like I'm turning over to a new master.)

I'm only 20 years old and yet I spend most nights crying to myself because I'm afraid of losing everything after death... everything that I love. I'm scared to be used or taken advantage of... To be told that everything I love and care about is pointless and that I'll end up in eternal suffering anyways.

It doesn't help that I'm friends with a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community, and identify as a polyamorous fictosexual person myself. Constantly having doubts and insecurities that my ego is doing the talking when I just want to be myself and present that self when loving others (platonically).

If I can't be honest with my own identity, how can I possibly be honest in loving others? Yet, even though it feels so natural to me, seeing how others talk people down over the pettiest reasons makes me feel bad about myself, like I'm abnormal.

[nova.r.]

I think I'm going to watch this video every day from now on lol. I've been in an inescapable, soul-crushing situation for the past several years and more and more recently, I've been thinking about just giving up since nothing is improving, no matter how hard I try or push myself. This video made me feel like I can try again, so thank you.

[laurinlatour]

You always get me, Jon-O, but this one got me hard. I learned for most of my life to be defensive because I was defending myself against my environment. Now it's really hard to learn to let the defense go and understand where I am spreading my own trauma to my children. I'm trying to learn to accept that I can be wrong and still be good. Thank you