MEWD: I wrote a list

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicThings I have been unable to do in the last 48 hours due to my depression

  • Get out of bed on my own — if I didn’t have my husband by my side reminding me that I am capable of surviving the day, I would spend a LOT more of my time hiding from the day.
  • Anything that remotely resembles studying — I may have all the good intentions in the world, but that doesn’t help. The other morning I set myself up with my textbooks and my assignment notes. All I wanted to do was type up my handwritten notes and, as this doesn’t really require any higher level thinking, I thought I’d be okay. Ba-bown. When it came time to actually open my laptop, I just couldn’t do it.
  • Be on time — ask anyone and they’ll tell you that the chances of my arriving on time to ANYTHING are ridiculously low. Often, the reason behind this is that it takes a lot of effort to drag myself around the house and get ready. Depression puts me on a go slow, and oftentimes it takes away my willingness to be in public and interact with human beings (this is also due to my social anxiety)
  • Cook. Anything — I’m not a great cook at the best of times, but I can usually rustle up a curry or stir-fry, or something else fairly low-effort to feed myself and my partner. Not so lately. When it comes time for dinner preparation, I can’t think of a single thing to create, let alone work up the motivation to actually move and get that happening.

Continue reading MEWD: I wrote a list

MEWD: People Do Care

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicSecond semester last year is when my depression started to really, seriously, and truly affect my studies. I could not tell you how many of my lectures and tutorials I attended that semester, but I can almost guarantee you that it was less than 40%. In all reality, it was probably more like 20–30%. This was a big deal for someone who only missed eight classes in total through first year. Continue reading MEWD: People Do Care

MEWD: Projects

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicSomething that I find helps me out when battling this whole depression thing, is to have little projects to keep my hands busy.

I find that if I’m just sitting watching television, my mind still seems to be able to cloud over with worries and stresses and sad things. My (sometimes) solution to this is to add another thing into the mix to keep my feet planted in the real world. Continue reading MEWD: Projects

MEWD: Busy but Useless

Sometimes my mind is as busy as this little bee:

BEE

It just goes and goes and goes and I can’t really keep track of my thoughts because there’s so many of them and they’re all making so much noise inside my brain.

You would think that being busy like a bee might be a good thing, because bees are productive little critters that make honey and pollinate flowers and go ‘bzzz bzzzz bzzzz’. Continue reading MEWD: Busy but Useless

MEWD: Haze

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicSome days I have what seems to be a haze fall over me. It’s like I’m seeing through a bit of a fog and, sometimes, like the things I’m experiencing aren’t actually happening to me, but to someone else, and I’m only getting an echo of what they would be feeling. I can’t settle in to any one task, and my concentration levels are practically nil. Continue reading MEWD: Haze

MEWD: Counselling & Psychology

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicIf you’ve ever danced with depression, or any other type of mental illness, chances are that at some point or another someone has recommended seeking counselling, or seeing a psychologist to you.

This can be a super daunting thing, for anyone, at anything, for any reason. Particularly if you’ve never been to one before. Continue reading MEWD: Counselling & Psychology

MEWD: Motivation

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicMotivation is something that I really struggle with. Or rather, my motivation is one of the things that depression has stolen from me.

This is super unhelpful in all walks of life; Amelia has highlighted how important motivation is. I find it particularly hard when it comes to University since, as we all know, Uni is all about self-driven study. No one is standing over our shoulders telling us we need to attend every class, or when we need to start our assignments or study for our tests. If we don’t want to go to our lectures or our tutorials, we don’t go.

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Continue reading MEWD: Motivation

My Exploits with Depression (MEWD): An Introduction

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicDepression is hard.

Like, really freaking hard.

Also? It sucks.

I have been attempting to write a post like this for the last seven months. I have written, and re-written, and scrapped countless drafts — all in my head, of course. As you can see, none of that practice has helped me to become particularly eloquent!

I have depression. In case you weren’t sure. In my case, it also currently comes with a (not-so) healthy side dose of anxiety.

Here are some facts about depression and anxiety in Australia:

  • Approximately 1 in 6 people will experience depression at some stage throughout their lifetime
  • About 1 in 4 will experience anxiety
  • Anxiety is the most common mental condition in the country
  • It’s estimated that 45 per cent of the nation will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime.

(Information courtesy of Beyond Blue: http://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts)

I am part of that 45 per cent. Have been since I was about sixteen. I didn’t realise it at the time; I thought I was just being a stroppy teenager with glandular fever. Retrospectively, however, I can see that it was much more than just your average teenage angst.

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I made dis.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to be all ‘woe is me’ here, nor am I trying to be an attention seeker. Studying (living) with depression and/or anxiety is hard, and for those of you who also struggle with these demons, I’m just trying to say ‘Hey, you’re not alone.’ That’s all.

Everyone experiences these things differently. For me, it comes in bouts and stages. Like I said, it started when I was about sixteen, but it hasn’t been constant. It comes and goes, along with the stressors and triggers in my life. This latest bout has hit me pretty badly, and has seriously affected my studies. It’s also the first time I’ve had anxiety along with the depression, so that’s been another learning curve for me.

Lucky for me (and everyone studying at FedUni) the lecturers and support teams we have here are invaluable, and have helped me struggle though last semester, and begin limping into this one. I’ve had help from my schools undergraduate coordinator, the Student Advisory Service, and the Disability Liaison team, to name a few. All of them have been fantastic, and understanding, and they have put things in place that did help, and will continue to help me throughout my time studying here.

I think I’ll leave this post here for now, as I’m not really sure where I’m going with all this rambling. All going well, I’m hoping to write a few posts on my exploits with depression (or MEWD. Because that sounds like a cute noise a little kitty would make), just to give people some sort of insight into what depression can be like. Or something like that.

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-Emma