I'm feeling down... really down

[MojoJojo]

Anything u want babe just no kissing

on the mouth anyway.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I can't really offer you much constructive advice because I'm a complete flake in real life. Have you ever considered getting a hobby? Maybe something that you'd have to get out of the house for. Birdwatching or something. I dunno, I'm fucking useless at this. My grandad always told me to get a hobby. He's dead now.

[flotemysost]

Even writing these feelings down at all, let alone posting them to a load of strangers on a forum, is a seriously brave thing to do. You've put across what you're going through in a very thoughtful and eloquent way, and even just going by your posts in this topic, it doesn't sound like you're not a nice person, not at all.

Not much to add other than speaking to your GP sounds like a good next step. I'm also on the cusp of turning thirty and I've been experiencing sort-of similar anxieties recently - obsessing that no one actually likes me and I'll never really mean anything to anyone, or feeling like no one would care if I wasn't around. I have a job I love, decent health and a fairly active social life; on the surface everything looks happy and normal, but I'm terrified I'll lose it all at any moment once people realise what a waste of space I am, and I feel either on the verge of tears or just empty most of the time. Then I feel doubly stupid and ungrateful because I know I have lots to be thankful for and I still can't be happy.

It's so easy to convince yourself that it's somehow justified and you deserve to feel this shit, but it's not and you don't. I've been putting off seeing a doctor because it is scary and embarrassing to talk about this stuff, but I plan to make an appointment soon too, no one should have to feel like this. Best of luck to you.

[Noonling]

I can't really offer you much constructive advice because I'm a complete flake in real life. Have you ever considered getting a hobby? Maybe something that you'd have to get out of the house for. Birdwatching or something. I dunno, I'm fucking useless at this. My grandad always told me to get a hobby. He's dead now.

I know how absolutely stupid it sounds, but... Pokemon Go helped me a little in this way. I was struggling to leave the house last year bar a weekly trip to Asda (resisted the urge to get it delivered, though that did mean just starving sometimes), and Pokemon Go got me more in the habit of leaving the house. Now I have a job and leave the house to work, and sometimes I even do things at the weekends!

I AM ALSO ON THE CUSP OF TURNING THIRTY. Hello other 29 year olds, I always thought this place was stuffed to the gills with people older than me.

[Bennett Brauer]

[tag]Anatidaephile leaves thread disappointed[/tag]

[Here Comes Mongo]

This sounds familiar. What advice should Harley_Quim expect on visiting a GP? Maybe I was unlucky, but I didn't find the GP all that helpful when I was in a similar situation - I'm not really sure what they're able to do other than prescribe an antidepressant, or arrange some sort of talking therapy. The latter I just found patronizing, and it didn't help that the therapist assigned to me offered textbook 'one size fits all' solutions to problems rather than trying to tailor them to my individual situation. In the end I fucked that off and started to focus on ridiculously simple things like diet and making sure I got enough sleep and exercise, which seemed to help to some extent.