800-448-3000What Do I Do With All This Stress?
Question
Hi, lately I've been feeling very miserable in school. I don't want to do my work (but I am!) because I'm getting bad thoughts from my depression. I wish I could tell my teachers what's going on in my mind, but I wouldn't want them to think I was in danger and call my parents or the hospital. Some of my teachers do know I have depression, they just don't know how bad it is. Heck, I don't even know how bad it is, but I'm feeling really worthless and miserable. I'm not really sure what else to do for coping skills, I'd like to try journaling, but can't really find the time to do so. I'm not really sure what else to do about school. I'm really stressed out by my thoughts and work at school. I really just want to relax.
Counselor response
It's great you took the time to reach out to YLYV for some support. It sounds like you are really going through a difficult time right now. School can be very demanding and stressful and to add depression on top of it can make things unbearable at times. It's great you are looking into different things you can do to cope with what you are going through. This tells us you are very strong and you need to be proud of yourself for that.
Talking to your teachers and being honest can be very helpful. Teachers can be very great supportive people and could potentially help you access services you could benefit from, such as counseling or talking with your parents, etc. If you don't feel comfortable talking to them in person, maybe think about writing them a letter explaining how you are feeling. Maybe even talking to your school counselor about how you are feeling would be helpful for you. Starting to talk about how you are feeling is the first step to feeling better. What about talking to your parents or writing them a letter explaining how overwhelmed and stressed out you are? You deserve to feel better and to have people around you that love and care about you and will help you through this difficult time.
Have you looked around on the website yet? There is a great list of 99 coping skills that you may find helpful. Here is the link: 99 Coping Skills. Here is a link for taking care of yourself, as we know it is challenging to care for ourselves when we aren't feeling well - 9 Steps to Taking Care of Yourself. This last link is 12 steps to overcoming depression - 12 Steps to Overcome Depression.
Keep up the good work, keep taking care of yourself and reaching out for support when you need to. We are always here. You can also take a look at our website www.yourlifeyourvoice.org and can text with a crisis counselor too.
Take care,
Holly, Crisis Counselor