Hitting rock bottom

[etienne_marais]

I have been through some rough patches in my life, many years ago I practically hit rock bottom and could hardly afford food. By my own standards I'd say I'm about 10 years behind with my life due to a debilitating depression which I have overcome over a long period of time. Having been 'there' I can appreciate what I have now so much more but also understand the importance of persistence and making good use of opportunities. Of course there are many people who had it worse than I.

Anybody been there ?

 

[kanzen]

I have been through some rough patches in my life, many years ago I practically hit rock bottom and could hardly afford food. By my own standards I'd say I'm about 10 years behind with my life due to a debilitating depression which I have overcome over a long period of time. Having been 'there' I can appreciate what I have now so much more but also understand the importance of persistence and making good use of opportunities. Of course there are many people who had it worse than I.

Anybody been there ?

I know someone who has been through something similar and is only getting his life back on track now. You may feel as though you're 10 years behind but in all honesty it shows you've lived. Some people just float along and never experience reality. All the best going forward for you!

 

[FarligOpptreden]

I've been there as recent as this year: father-in-law committed suicide, mother-in-law moving in my the wife and I, my dog was killed by neighbour's dog, trying to stay afloat in my new business whilst paying salaries for 9 staff members and sacrificing my own some months, managing 3 clients, staff and doing work at all of them at once and now forgoing paid-for leave due to a client's demand for on-site resources after working 7 days a week this past year. My wife urges me to see a doc for some meds because my mood changes at the drop of a hat.

2016 can't come too soon.

 

[crackersa]

I've been there as recent as this year: father-in-law committed suicide, mother-in-law moving in my the wife and I, my dog was killed by neighbour's dog, trying to stay afloat in my new business whilst paying salaries for 9 staff members and sacrificing my own some months, managing 3 clients, staff and doing work at all of them at once and now forgoing paid-for leave due to a client's demand for on-site resources after working 7 days a week this past year. My wife urges me to see a doc for some meds because my mood changes at the drop of a hat.

2016 can't come too soon.

See a doctor and get a holiday very soon

 

[etienne_marais]

I know someone who has been through something similar and is only getting his life back on track now. You may feel as though you're 10 years behind but in all honesty it shows you've lived. Some people just float along and never experience reality. All the best going forward for you!

Thanks for that !

 

[etienne_marais]

I've been there as recent as this year: father-in-law committed suicide, mother-in-law moving in my the wife and I, my dog was killed by neighbour's dog, trying to stay afloat in my new business whilst paying salaries for 9 staff members and sacrificing my own some months, managing 3 clients, staff and doing work at all of them at once and now forgoing paid-for leave due to a client's demand for on-site resources after working 7 days a week this past year. My wife urges me to see a doc for some meds because my mood changes at the drop of a hat.

2016 can't come too soon.

Sounds like you are working yourself to exhaustion, hope things work out.

 

[Kilgore_Trout_Redux]

This year was probably as low to rock bottom as I have gotten. More situational than anything.

Had neck issues that caused chronic pain and insomnia, coupled with an incredibly stressful new job and it almost broke me. Got to the point where I could tell my responses to stress factors were utterly irrational and went to the doctor who put me on some temp medication for pain/insomnia which really turned things around.

Seriously folks. Go see a doctor if you get to the point where you can't cope any more. They can help.

 

[genetic]

Maybe stop focusing all your energy on farm attack threads. It's not good for you.

On a serious note. 2015 has been the worst year for me too. Been incredibly hard emotionally too.

Only advice I can give is - chin up, and focus on making 2016 the complete opposite. The only change is within you.

 

[crackersa]

Maybe stop focusing all your energy on farm attack threads. It's not good for you.

On a serious note. 2015 has been the worst year for me too. Been incredibly hard emotionally too.

Only advise I can give is - chin up, and focus on making 2016 the complete opposite. The only change is within you.

Well said

 

[FarligOpptreden]

See a doctor and get a holiday very soon

Yeah, unfortunately not. As things currently are I won't be able to afford time off - staff need to be paid and I have a crapload of debt from salary sacrifices to repay first. So my only holiday will be one at home, staring bills and creditors in the face.

Sounds like you are working yourself to exhaustion, hope things work out.

I've passed exhaustion months ago and I'm at the point where a weekend off makes me feel guilty for not trying harder at getting stuff done.

So to answer your question: Yes, I believe I've hit something very much akin to rock bottom, albeit not completely in a financial sense. I haven't been as emotionally unstable in my life and I've always been a friendly, helpful and loving person. I've grown to be spiteful, pessimistic, quick to anger and intimidating in the span of a year. My own staff say they don't recognise me anymore from 2014.

 

[FarligOpptreden]

Maybe stop focusing all your energy on farm attack threads. It's not good for you.

On a serious note. 2015 has been the worst year for me too. Been incredibly hard emotionally too.

Only advise I can give is - chin up, and focus on making 2016 the complete opposite. The only change is within you.

In trying to motivate my staff, I went on a whole "be the change you want to see" drive a couple of months ago. For me, personally, situations just seemed to worsen doesn't matter what I did. A couple of work (i.e. client) relationships turned incredibly abusive and impacted my business ethic immensely. Suffice to say I don't trust people anymore, not in the least.

 

[genetic]

In trying to motivate my staff, I went on a whole "be the change you want to see" drive a couple of months ago. For me, personally, situations just seemed to worsen doesn't matter what I did. A couple of work (i.e. client) relationships turned incredibly abusive and impacted my business ethic immensely. Suffice to say I don't trust people anymore, not in the least.

Indeed. I'm in a similar boat. As much as it can disassociate you from everybody else and make you hate certain individuals, you'll soon just alienate yourself.

I found just by accepting that life and certain people will always be the cause of my pain, enabled me to kind of deal with life and move on. It's hard, but you just have to keep moving forward.

 

[biometrics]

Have your blood pressure checked btw.

 

[ponder]

<snip>

You come across as very negative. When I read your posts it's all about the world trying to do afrikaans people in, die swart gevaar & religious judgement. Are you not working yourself into a state of despair as all you are focussing on is the negative things you perceive in life. Maybe try ignoring all those things & try looking at the good there is out there. As saffas we are an extremely negative bunch & always just focus on the bad, I'm guilty of this as well.

All the best.

 

[genetic]

You come across as very negative. When I read your posts it's all about the world trying to do afrikaans people in, die swart gevaar & religious judgement. Are you not working yourself into a state of despair as all you are focussing on is the negative things you perceive in life.

Agreed. Hence my comment on the farm murder threads.

There's more to life than all the negative. In reality, the negative only accounts for maybe 1% of your daily life, but searching and focusing on negative stories on the web ain't gonna make things any better. The world is a nasty place. Negativity breeds negativity. Focus on your immediate life - what surrounds you, not what you trawl through the depths of current affairs.

 

[cguy]

I came pretty close. I was working part time (3 full days a week), studying full time (post grad, so I could set my schedule - managed to do 70 hours a week), and I bought a house with some family members. Then they lost their jobs (don't ask...), and I landed up studying longer than I thought I would, and interest rates were climbing. Net result is that four of us lived on about R1000 a month for about a year or two. We ate ramen with instant tomato soup, since we couldn't afford tomatoes or proper tomato sauce, and were about a 1% prime rate increase from losing our home.

I did have the option of dropping out of my studies (losing years of work) to work full time, or abandoning the house (or sell at a near loss) and renting again, so I wasn't completely in a vise, but neither of those options were particularly attractive. Add this to the stress of a 100 hour work week on minimal food, and it was a pretty crap couple of years. Glad I persisted though, and it was character building if anything, and it also made me acutely aware of certain financially realities.

 

[bokdrol]

Our modern lives are incredibly stressful. Technology means that everyone wants everything immediately. remember we have the same bodies we had a hundred years ago. I honestly believe stress and depression amongst the general populace have skyrocketed over the last decade or two. I remember my parents. they both worked, but 5 o'clock they were home, weekends were weekends and there was time for annual holidays. Things have changed, not for the better.

Damn you Bill Gates.

 

[ice_cubes]

I remember my parents. they both worked, but 5 o'clock they were home, weekends were weekends and there was time for annual holidays.

sweet memories

 

[diabolus]

You come across as very negative. When I read your posts it's all about the world trying to do afrikaans people in, die swart gevaar & religious judgement. Are you not working yourself into a state of despair as all you are focussing on is the negative things you perceive in life. Maybe try ignoring all those things & try looking at the good there is out there. As saffas we are an extremely negative bunch & always just focus on the bad, I'm guilty of this as well.

All the best.

Unfortunately that is the whole "theme" i get from News24/Naspers who is running most of our daily dose of news. I think alot of people are just re-regurgitating all of that negativity . I literally roll my eyes daily on my way to work passing these headline-posters from Beeld.

Same applies to all this social media stuff, Facebook i think is probably causing alot of anxiety and depression.

Ignorance IS bliss, and might make you happier methinks. This year i've systematically moved my life out of facebook, and i'm feeling much happier. I was getting pretty depressed seeing all the happy families with their babies and their holidays, while i was slogging it out at work and going home vegetating on the couch because i'm too tired to do anything else.

I can't even explain how much anxiety following News24 adds, especially now. I mean if i was out there in the sticks with no access to news last week when this whole finance minister fiasco went down, i would be a much happier person right now.

Anyhow, people say you can't ignore all of this, but i think sometimes things that you can't control one way or another , following it on a daily basis is just going to lead to an early heart attack.

 

[ice_cubes]

Agreed, social media just adds to the burden/stress & also chows valuable time. No wonder we don't get around to finishing our daily tasks!