Our lifestyles never lined up. No thanks to European vacations and dreams of a mansion house on a hill somewhere. Going into debt for this shit? Going into debt for any reason? Ridiculous. Get off the treadmill and chill for once in your life. There is more to life then sprinting from one place to another trying to min max what little time your wage slave jobs allow you between your regularly scheduled beatings every shift.
But others are wired differently then me I guess. And good for them, this world is not meant for people like me. I've come to peace with it, but the remaining loved ones in my life refuse to accept my acceptance.
Skip all my classes for a semester and play TES: Oblivion instead. When I failed to graduate on time she was like "our life paths don't line up" and was outta there.
I was going through some shit, and in retrospect, it may have been the shit I was going through and not the wasted semester, which was just a symptom, that was the problem. I continued that downward spiral until I spent a stint homeless.
Hands down, ignoring my depression for so many years. Cost me countless friends and relationships.
The shame people at least used to put in getting any kind of help for mental health made me try to overcome it all on my own, and for most of my life I've probably made things worse for a lot of people and don't fault them one bit for not wanting to be around me.
Getting help, for me at least, was very easy, cheap, and straightforward, and I almost immediately did a 180 in most every aspect of my life. I hardly recognize how old me used to live now, but I also have the guilt of all I did while I was untreated.
For a few years after college I swear I was in some sort of depression. I barely remember anything from those years and my friend from then tells me about stuff I did that I have zero recollection of.
You can't entirely blame someone who was unwell for not handling things as best as they could. You did what you needed to, you get the help you needed, and now you can do better. That alone is more than so many people can do, just because depression is a sneaky, underhanded, evil monster!
I hope that you can find a line to walk between taking responsibility for your actions, and giving yourself grace for what you were going through.
The worst part of mental issues is the part of your body that needs to be fixed is the part that isn't working right and is the part that is supposed to make decisions.
I accept what is done, and I use those things as learning experiences now. I wish I could forget some of it, but now that I can understand what I've done in the past, it makes the lessons really stick now.
I don't know if I'd consider myself "happy" at the current period of time I'm in, because meds or therapy aren't cures, they just let you process stuff in a more productive way. I'm fighting with my job about a bunch of issues I see as them not looking out for my safety, and there's always family drama and I don't have much in common with my own or my girlfriend's family. I'm just able to process all that without flying off the handle or totally walling myself off from everyone and all that fun unhealthy stuff. I'm at least able to appreciate the good things that do still happen though, which I couldn't before.
Talking about it and trying to destigmatize it is part of the responsibility I feel, because while I can't undo any of what I did, I can at least try to help other people to help themselves so they can avoid walking down the same path as I did for so long. It helps them, and all the people that those people run into in life.
Not speaking up for my wants and needs. Being a "soldier" and sucking everything up just creates resentment and gives the other person the mistaken assumption that you are ok with everything. It is ok to say "I don't agree" or "I don't like this" as long as you do it respectfully.