It was killing me because he sounded familiar, so I looked it up - it’s Bertie Carvel.

♪ You do it to yourself, you do, and that’s what really hurts ♪

Hell, I screwed up *today* when my plans to be a positive, self-confident go-getter ran headfirst into my depression and anxiety and I felt crappy about myself all evening. I just keep telling myself that I can try again tomorrow. You’ve got this <3

That’s a great idea, thank you!

Ooh thank you, I will check it out!

Thank you! My old place never really gave me the support I needed - they’re nice people but they never gave me any real induction, they just threw me in at the deep end and expected me to cope. I *did* cope but it was unbearably stressful, particularly given that I was dealing with confidential information and…

In the words of Mallory Ortberg, it is very difficult being a person. I hope your heart feels better soon. This guy has been so callous with regard to my feelings that my friend asked me if I was the first human being he’d ever met, which did make me laugh. Ah, feelings.

You are very brave to decide that there are other ways your life could be and to take steps to get there. The best advice I can give you (I’m 30, disabled, with mental health problems, and certainly know what it is to feel that your life has stalled) is to be kind to yourself. You will have days where you make real…

Job hunting is absolutely awful. I really hope life gets kinder for you soon. Keep buggering on <3

I’m glad you’re still here. It’s been fifteen years since I tried to leave and my brain still tells me horrible things about myself every day. It is wrong, everyone. Your depression brain is wrong and it is lying.

I’m so sorry for your loss. When my childhood cats died, we planted pretty bushes where we buried them. It helped to think something beautiful was living in the soil where they were sleeping. I still look for them when I come home from time to time, grief takes its own time to fade.

Yesss, excellent attitude! I am trying to be like that from now on too, I just turned 30 and I decided that is too old to still care so much about what people think of me and/or let people treat me like shit. I am on an aggressive self-esteem kick right now.

Thank you! It’s hard because I see him quite often and it was the first time in a long time that I felt excited about a guy but hopefully I am out of the crying phase and into the bit where I develop a fabulous life and he is eventually haunted by his regrets and/or actual ghosts.

Flipping heck. That kind of cold is just inconceivable to me as a Briton, it’s 0 degrees C here tonight and I have not stopped complaining. I salute you, Canadians, you are a brave and hardy people.

That is a really lovely response, thank you so much! <3

Thanks! It’s been sat on my floor for two years, I am determined to get it finished. Will probably post on SNS when it’s done!

Hurrah! Hope something less exhausting comes your way!

I would read any number of books about a giant owl that eats people. I gift to you one of the finest legends of my homeland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owlman

Thank you, yeah, I just need to bite the bullet and start, don’t I? I’m thinking of maybe starting a blog and just writing about whatever is going on (films I’ve watched, stories I’ve read, just yelling at the moon) in the hope that will loosen me up a little.

The only writing class I’ve found in my area is, frustratingly, on the same night as my dance class but I could look into joining an online group maybe! I have a friend who writes a lot and he keeps trying to cajole me into writing so I think being nagged might actually work :D