Signs You Might Be Falling Into Depression
You might have a busy social life but, at the end of the day, you can’t shake the feeling that something is off. Maybe it’s your job, or maybe it’s the people around you. Either way, you don’t feel as alive as you once felt.
Chances are you’re starting to isolate yourself and maybe don’t even realize that. It takes some time and self-awareness to acknowledge that and, after doing so, it can be painful to accept it.
So, and since I’ve already been through that, I’d like to share with you some signs of deep loneliness and isolation, which lead to depression, that you might be experiencing without even realizing it.
You overshare
You just met someone on your first day at school or at a new job. You start enjoying the conversation and in a couple of hours, you feel that you can trust that person and start to talk a bit too much about yourself.
Soon the other person limits the conversation or even breaks full contact with you. This prompts you to do the same thing with the next person, thus becoming a cycle.
Allow yourself to be known and acknowledged by others. There is no need to force certain topics. If the person starts to create some sort of bond with you, they will ask about and how you feel.
You feel disposable
When you are with a group of people, you start wondering how the conversation would go if you weren’t around. Maybe they would be sharing more personal stories, or the mood would be uplifting. In a way, you feel that you don’t have anything to offer.
Know this: if they didn’t want you there, you wouldn’t have been invited in the first place. Just try and contribute in some way to the conversation. Don’t be too harsh on yourself.
You downsize your needs
You are with yourself every single day, so you can wait, right? No! Like every other person, you have emotional needs. If you downsize or even avoid them completely, you’re just accumulating unnecessary unresolved frustration.
You can’t fix people if you’re broken. And fixing other people won’t fix you.
You “need” to be helpful
Being good and respectful to others is commendable. However, if you constantly feel that it is your job to do so, you’re just setting yourself to disappointment. Soon you’ll be expecting the same attention from others, attention that won’t come and that will uneven your emotional balance.
You become obsessed with friendships
There’s some kind of void that needs feeling, in this case being people’s attention, hence you start to see a friend in every person you know and meet.
Since you start to worry about being alone, you try to keep your social agenda as busy as possible. The thing is those connections will start to lose meaning and won’t diminish the void whatsoever.
To enjoy others’ company you need to enjoy your own company first. And you’ll surely be better off with a couple of true friendships than with a dozen of shallow ones.
I hope you don’t identify yourself with this article, but in the case you do, I hope it helps you find yourself. And remember, you are never alone. There is no shame in admitting defeat and reaching for help.
Inspired by a fellow creator, I decided to challenge myself to publish 100 short-form articles within January. This is article number 12.
