Really...You folks amaze me. Most astonishing is when you come here and unload your issues, seem to be in a very bad way, and then respond to someone else, helping them out of their own problems.

You may not know this, but you are helping yourselves in the process, and giving a different perspective on "how bad you really are" in terms of your emotional/psychological issues. Here's how it starts to look (to me, anyway) when you all start going through your post routines:

"Dear Depression Thread...I am miserable. I hate my life. I have everything about my life. I hate my friends. I hate my family. I hate myself most of all. The end is nigh. See you on the other side...except...Oh, wait! Someone else is in trouble! Well, I've been through something like that, and I got through it by doing what some might think is the strangest thing. But it was fun/good for me, and here's what I did! (Insert perfectly logical idea that probably never occurred to the other person that posted.) And now that that's taken care of...I am miserable. I hate my life. I have everything about my life. I hate my friends. I hate my family. I hate myself most of all. The end is nigh. See you on the other side..."

Yes, even I am guilty of this. But the wonderful thing is that we care, and we still hang onto hope, if not for ourselves, then for others. As long as there's hope and caring, you may believe you're in bad shape, but you're not. You're actually doing as well as possible under what is likely poor circumstances.

As to Thanatos 51-50's suggestion to SurlySeraph, my directionless, motivationless life brought me to a United States Army recruiter when I was 18. (I actually wanted to join the marine corps, like my father, but the army was closest.) I asked if there was some way an 18-year-old diabetic could join the armed forced and gain some desperately needed dicipline. Alas, diabetes made me 4F in the questionaire.

Still, it's not a bad idea, and the military has programs that will pay for future education, as well as give you practical experience in a variety of fields. While Thanatos acts like it's a commercial, ("Travel the world...meet interesting people...and kill them!" ), it's not a bad idea at all.

Back to my initial message...you folks are awesome. Even in your worst moments, you're trying to do, when you believe you can do it. So while you may feel like losers in the interum, you are truly awesome.