tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620421982652764066.post2734844356155920416..comments2015-04-08T11:55:05.080-07:00Comments on Tea with Savages: Alcohol, Depression, and Menatalie 1968http://www.blogger.com/profile/17216361707415187512noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620421982652764066.post-15971637108516181332014-07-28T19:27:23.181-07:002014-07-28T19:27:23.181-07:00Thanks for your support!
Thanks for your support!<br />natalie 1968https://www.blogger.com/profile/17216361707415187512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620421982652764066.post-61596778524234502062014-07-28T15:26:35.083-07:002014-07-28T15:26:35.083-07:00Thanks for sharing, Natalie! Thanks for sharing, Natalie! S.R. Karfelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13883350104178044005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620421982652764066.post-38129934078124069202014-07-27T18:36:15.257-07:002014-07-27T18:36:15.257-07:00Thank you for sharing your struggles and your jour...Thank you for sharing your struggles and your journey. Many men were taught growing up that the only acceptable "manly" emotion is anger, which is really unfortunate. Any intense feeling goes straight to anger, since that's all they have been allowed to feel. <br /><br />Sometimes it helps to try and look beneath the anger and try to see what emotion is there. It could be loneliness, fear, shame, or a combination of things. It's never wrong to feel emotions; it's only wrong to lash out or react. Easier said than done, I know :)<br /><br />It sounds like you are on the right track. Best of luck to you.natalie 1968https://www.blogger.com/profile/17216361707415187512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620421982652764066.post-74855404244571493002014-07-27T12:14:15.467-07:002014-07-27T12:14:15.467-07:00Thanks for sharing....My depression might not be d...Thanks for sharing....My depression might not be depression at all....At least not in the common sense of being sad and with thoughts of suicide.....My emotional rollercoaster was anger (and at times - self loathing).....<br /><br />I went to college and quit after my first year...I got horrible grades....it had nothing to do with partying or "finding myself", but mostly due to no interest....I would suffer a bad grade and would say "F-it" and drop the class....It's rather funny - and sad - but I'm a writer who never passed English 101....<br /><br />Getting back to my "depression"....I would blow up angry for no reason, or at least for reasons that a normal person would not find to be something to get angry over....I found that I could handle accidents very calmly - such as a trip, or a car dent, or my children spilling all the milk onto the table....But if it was something minor, such as walking into a wall, or dropping my drink - anything that I could personally control - I'd lose it....I would hit or kick the wall for having bumped into it.....<br /><br />I never went to a Dr. or was diagnosed with anything....I still have it.....I just learned to cope with it....and through mediation I have calmed down a lot over the last year.... Mine was mostly lashing out, swearing, hitting (objects), throwing things (usually alone)....But my anger did spill out into the real world, and made many people fearful and weary of being around me....Especially at the end of my marriage when everything set me off.....<br /><br />I should probably find a Dr. who could help me understand myself better.....I do know I have an attention disorder - though never diagnosed....I get bored very easily, especially over any topics that don't interest me....It has even affected my writing....I can write a beautiful first draft but then I never return to it.....I have so many things sitting on shelves (computer in box really) that I haven't touched since I first composed it....<br /><br />I do think of myself as an artist....An artist who writes - mostly short stories, essays, and poetry....I don't have a substance problem but that might be just because I've always hated the feeling of feeling numb....And alcohol has always enhanced my moods....If I got drunk while angry I would be VERY angry while drunk....Instead I was able to isolate myself (sometimes for days) until the moments passed....<br /><br />Every day is a challenge to keep myself in check....and to keep a positive outlook....I have found that meditation works well for me....And I don't beat myself up for not hitting the poet's ink well as often as I would like....<br /><br />Thanks for posting your struggles....As a writer (for me) there's a desire to be the suffering writer (Hemingway) who wrote amazing (but few) stories, who drank with zeal, and killed himself when he began feeling his mind slipping....There is such a romanticism about that....I would love to live and die like him....And that is my curse, for wanting to write like him, all my work suffers in comparison.....And that adds to depression and anger.....So for me - I just write the best Darren Wasell stories as I can....<br /><br />I wish you well my fellow scribe....may we meet on the battle fields of history, pens in hand, the Devil at our heals, and the wind to our backs....Darren Wasellnoreply@blogger.com