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JohnBoleaOne thing I would like to touch on is how high school impacts mental health. I want to start off by saying that high school is a horrible place to be when you are facing mental health issues. High school is full of bullies, drugs and alcohol, and it is a place where many of us are extremely self conscious and are afraid to be who we are. I have been struggling for a long time with intense depression and have had very low lows but if you are someone like me I want you to know that you are loved, people do care, and it will get better maybe not today maybe not tomorrow but someday, someday it will get better. Im partly posting this so I can come back and read it myself but to anyone reading this you can do it, you are strong, you will get better again.
PeterNorthI used to ski competitively, the past 4 years i have stopped due to money issues. I started drinking and using drugs to get my mind off of never making it to Xgames. I had some good finishes at a couple of events (14th at aspen open was my best result). Right now I am typing this in a rehab facility and am feeling better then ever. How I ended up here was that I chose to downgrade my self, feeling bad for my self. Ive spent a lot of money on drugs and drinking the past few years to cope with what i would call some depression. My drug use has made me not want to ski or do really any of my hobbies. This started making me feel not like my self, my heart didnt even feel like mine. After years of torturing my body I finally snapped and needed to change. My mental stability was not there, I was not happy, and was pretty sad all the time. I needed a change. I am 12 days in to my 31 day program and I am finally starting to feel whole again. Im looking forward to getting back to the sports I love. If anyone is struggling with drugs and feel like their life is staying the same I highly suggest you go to a program, weather thats AA, CA, NA or a rehab. Finally feel like life is heading in the right direction! Great topic!!!!
-Connor
AndrewGravesSVTo anyone out there struggling with any mental health issues and are thinking about seeing a counselor, GO SEE ONE. There's never harm in going except from the stigma that you place on yourself. If mental health was a physical disease, would you wait to take your medicine that can help? Tons of people go to counseling/ therapists, I only started in college after waiting far too long to take advantage. Trust me when I say you'll be much better off starting with someone rather than waiting until your problems seem insurmountable.
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sheaskisIve been getting bullied for the past year and a half abou everythiong from me being in extra help classes at school, to being a female park skier. It has really dammaged me emotionaly. My self sesteem has plummeted and I have no confidence. Skiing is what gives me hope and makes me smile. I dont know where I would be if it werent for skiing, and my ski friends. Due to my self esteem issues, this season was my worst one yet competition wise. I still had a lot of fun freesking and skiing with my team. I have anxiety and I just started counseling and it has really helped me. If you are ever sad and having bad thoughts, TELL SOMEONE!!! call a counselor, a parent, a sibing, a friend, anyone that you know cares about you. And if you dont think anyone cares about you, your wrong, everone cares about you. Also, always be nice to people because stuff can efect peoples mental health. I love this chat board and it is very importaint. Just remember, things will get better.
cozzeyFor awhile I’ve struggled with mental health just due to being in high school, lacking self confidence and anxiety reasons but one thing I found very helpful was meditating.
It seems kinda weird and like a wack thing to do but legit just take two minutes when you wake up or before you’re going to bed, turn off your phone and music and just sit on your floor, eyes closed and focus. While meditating I thought that you had to clear your mind but now I understand that it allows you to dive deeper into certain thoughts and to analyze how you feel about things. If you’re meditating and one thing pops into mind focus on it and try to understand it.
This has been super helpful in just legit making yourself 10% happier than you were. Meditating clears your mind and just eases anxiety in general, I was worried about being “the kid that meditated” but if it makes you that much happier wouldn’t you do it as well?
safarisamFUCKING PILL PARTY UP IN HERE
i'm doing better but fuck I hate taking pills to be okay
ZypherIll pop in here real quick...
I honestly didn't know and still don't know what's up with me. My girlfriend says I may have some form of depression (Im inclined to agree with her on this one) and beyond that, I've bonked my head a few too many times. Im a happy go lucky sort of guy and most of the time Im just a normal HS Senior trying to get by and make it to the ski bums promised land but this year I've been having migraines and pains and missed tons of school because of it. I couldn't go out for lacrosse this season after suffering my 4th or 5th concussion since freshman year and its a bitch to even attempt to focus in school. I am the person who needs to be active whether that be skiing or running around on the field somewhere, its sort of what keeps me sane. Being home all the time and having these crippling headaches to the point where I can't stand up at some points to take a piss has really killed my vibe and sort of makes me worried for what the future has in store for me. Because of this, I am just not my normal self sometimes and it's weird to take a 3rd person perspective and see both sides of the same coin in yourself with no way to flip it over.
Recently I've been taking vitamins, different medications (mainly for headaches, no anti-depressants. I was pretty adamant on not taking anything that could change my mood as a side effect.), and seeing an acupuncturist for body and mind relief. My mood has changed for the better and I've been seeing everything a bit clearer along with these migraines becoming more spaced out and infrequent. I still can't concentrate most of the time but I'll chalk that one up to too many concussions without enough healing time in between.
The moral of this little story isn't a pity party. I didn't know what was going on with myself so I opened up to others to see what they thought would help. Their motivation and eagerness to get their buddy back to tip top shape helped me through this rough patch and if you are having a rough time, maybe that can work for you too. Also, always wear a helmet haha, I've seen what brain injuries can do first hand and would not recommend it.
safarisamFUCKING PILL PARTY UP IN HERE
i'm doing better but fuck I hate taking pills to be okay
ZypherIll pop in here real quick...
I honestly didn't know and still don't know what's up with me. My girlfriend says I may have some form of depression (Im inclined to agree with her on this one) and beyond that, I've bonked my head a few too many times. Im a happy go lucky sort of guy and most of the time Im just a normal HS Senior trying to get by and make it to the ski bums promised land but this year I've been having migraines and pains and missed tons of school because of it. I couldn't go out for lacrosse this season after suffering my 4th or 5th concussion since freshman year and its a bitch to even attempt to focus in school. I am the person who needs to be active whether that be skiing or running around on the field somewhere, its sort of what keeps me sane. Being home all the time and having these crippling headaches to the point where I can't stand up at some points to take a piss has really killed my vibe and sort of makes me worried for what the future has in store for me. Because of this, I am just not my normal self sometimes and it's weird to take a 3rd person perspective and see both sides of the same coin in yourself with no way to flip it over.
Recently I've been taking vitamins, different medications (mainly for headaches, no anti-depressants. I was pretty adamant on not taking anything that could change my mood as a side effect.), and seeing an acupuncturist for body and mind relief. My mood has changed for the better and I've been seeing everything a bit clearer along with these migraines becoming more spaced out and infrequent. I still can't concentrate most of the time but I'll chalk that one up to too many concussions without enough healing time in between.
The moral of this little story isn't a pity party. I didn't know what was going on with myself so I opened up to others to see what they thought would help. Their motivation and eagerness to get their buddy back to tip top shape helped me through this rough patch and if you are having a rough time, maybe that can work for you too. Also, always wear a helmet haha, I've seen what brain injuries can do first hand and would not recommend it.
nmwninjartI hated high school . I went to counseling for depression when I was 16-18 years old. Other Kids are jerks.
But Everything changed when I left and entered the adult world. I'm like a whole different person now due to the experiences and travels I went through. All grown up but yet I'm still a kid inside. A big kid.
PeterNorthI used to ski competitively, the past 4 years i have stopped due to money issues. I started drinking and using drugs to get my mind off of never making it to Xgames. I had some good finishes at a couple of events (14th at aspen open was my best result). Right now I am typing this in a rehab facility and am feeling better then ever. How I ended up here was that I chose to downgrade my self, feeling bad for my self. Ive spent a lot of money on drugs and drinking the past few years to cope with what i would call some depression. My drug use has made me not want to ski or do really any of my hobbies. This started making me feel not like my self, my heart didnt even feel like mine. After years of torturing my body I finally snapped and needed to change. My mental stability was not there, I was not happy, and was pretty sad all the time. I needed a change. I am 12 days in to my 31 day program and I am finally starting to feel whole again. Im looking forward to getting back to the sports I love. If anyone is struggling with drugs and feel like their life is staying the same I highly suggest you go to a program, weather thats AA, CA, NA or a rehab. Finally feel like life is heading in the right direction! Great topic!!!!
-Connor
safarisamFUCKING PILL PARTY UP IN HERE
i'm doing better but fuck I hate taking pills to be okay
nmwninjartThey had me on Zoloft. I don't think they did anything for me.
theabortionatorI had some crazy bad luck with the person I was talking to in high school. Might never go back and talk to anyone again. Been more open the last 5 years ish but yeah. Idk, glad you had a good experience.
voy10If you got some fake ass friends who aren’t there for you when you need them, or don’t like you for who you are, fuck em. They’re shitty people and not friends if they don’t like you for who you are. Or if they don’t stick up for you. I often have people tell me how I “have no friends.” I laugh to myself, and immediately think of my ski buds and how close we are and the good times we have.
Cole9This hit really close to home for me. I remember one night I was partying with buds and accidentally over drank and opened up about how I’m depressed. Long story short they laughed at me while I was having a mental breakdown. The next day they asked if what I said was true I told them yes and they said I’m full of shit. (3 people helped me the other few laughed) Right after this happened people just didn’t care and stopped inviting me to stuff thus making me more depressed. I think I went on periods of over a month not hanging out with anyone outside of school besides family. During this I stopped hanging out with most of my school friends. I got to say it’s kind of nice not having to deal with people that often anymore.(only downside is my social skills are almost non existent) Anways I found some ski friends and surf friends that are genuinely good people granted everyone has there shortcomings but these people genuinely try to help and are stoked on life. Anyways I just think it’s funny when people come up to me and say things like you have no friends or ask the question do you just not like people? Just wanted to share this cause your post hit pretty close to home. Moral of my story is find good friends you may think you have good friends because you have fun with them but ask yourself do these people genuinely care?
voy10Exactly man. Hey there’s nothing wrong at all with hanging out with family all the time. There’s nobody like family. They will always be there for you. And yeah man you don’t gotta have non ski/surf friends. Because ski/surf/ any sport/activity friends are usually the best friends.
*AndrewT*That can be an issue... I’ve found counselling to be all around beneficial in my life but looking back there have been some things said that caused more harm than good.
Do some research and find a professional with similar world views and/or life experience. For example.... if you want to talk about sexuality you should probably avoid seeing a shrink whose religion who tells them non-straight people will go to hell. They aren’t about to start preaching to you... they have good intentions and think they’re being unbiased but might still say things that are inappropriate to hear from a professional because of their... unique... world views.
uncrustablesMy girlfriend just got on Zoloft. So far she hates it. she says she can't cry or anything because of it. and helpful words or anything so i can be there for her?
nmwninjartI don't remember it doing a thing for me. I didn't remember getting any worse or better. So when the bottle ran out I just kinda shoved in the back of the medicine cabinet and didn't bother to tell my parents it was time for a refill. I eventually did improve. It was like a month later when Mom asked me about the pills. she got mad at me for a whole 5 seconds and then didn't say anything more about them. I was going to counseling at the time. I think the combination of that and joining the basketball team set me on the right path as I said earlier that was when I discovered when I'm active I feel much better. All those happy endorphins and stuff. Its probably why skiing to many of us is like our therapy. It makes us happy and feel good. We enter our own happy world when we put skis on.
eheethi feel this - 4 years bouncing around between varying levels and not one pill in that time bc I really just don't want to be relying on something to make me happy. i'm worried it'll make me lazy and not actually try and make myself happy myself. next time it gets bad though i think i will, but idk
MinggI laughed out loud. Can we start a club?
DingoSeanAlso, sometimes when I'm depressed - when it's not at a seriously bad point - the absolute last thing I want to do is talk about it, or anything, to anyone... not because I am ashamed or anything, or feel like "woe is me"... but because I kinda want to get through it on my own, so that I might be able to find some sort of trigger in me that causes it. A therapist probably doesn't think this is the healthiest, but fuck it man. Give me a Pepsi. I'll figure it out myself. Anyone else feel this way?
MinggYes. Its like not bad enough to make a deal out of it but it’s still there and hurts when you touch it. Kind of like a bruise. Like it’s just there, I’ll heal, and I don’t need anything from anyone to do so. I don’t know if that’s a good analogy but close enough I guess.
