Giving up on my dreams

[WheresMySquishy]

@Bento  It can be so difficult to try not to focus on the negative stuff that happens. We are wired to focus more on negative information than the nice things that people do for us. We can get a lot of compliments and people can treat us really well, but a single negative comment or experience can totally ruin our entire day.

I understand what you mean about Facebook and Twitter. I don't use them for this reason. I also don't like watching the news often because the media often reports on the bad stuff that happens rather than anything positive. This website and this website are pretty good if you need to read some positivity.

These articles are really helpful if you find yourself getting down about situations.

[Bento]

Thanks. It makes me feel better to hear other people say they feel the same, but talk about it in a calm and constructive manner instead of being negative themselves.
I’m sorry if this thread has gone off the rails and is becoming about something different than what it started out as. But I guess it all fits into the topic of mental health and positivity vs. negativity... right?
Getting back on topic of creativity, I find that creative hobbies are perhaps my best coping mechanism. Creating stories and characters I believe can be a great way of self expression. I want to create a story to express my own views on society and mental health. I’ve been working on the plot and characters for a while now, and I tried to start before but I couldn’t get far without thinking it was terrible and I just couldn’t get into it so I dropped it. Now I’m getting more ideas for my story, and I want to brew my ideas just a bit longer before I start and hopefully finish writing a story I’m happy with. I would love to share my work with people and hopefully help them get through hard times just like how it has helped me.

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[Jess1-RO]

Hi @Bento that's okay if conversations go in a different direction  Having a look at the last few posts, the conversations are still related so 100% okay to continue on this thread. 

Creativity sounds like it is something important to you, and writing is something that quite a few of our forums members enjoy too. There are a few creative spaces on the forums that you might be interested in too. Here we have a thread for writers in the community started by a fellow writer and builder @Hozzles. Here is a masterlist of the hanging out threads we have, and there are a fair few hobby based discussed that you may enjoy  

[WheresMySquishy]

@Bento  I think that creating stories can be a really good coping mechanism. I used to write stories and create characters too. I would often weave bits of my life into the stories. It was really cathartic and helped me process what I was going through at the time. I would also daydream a lot about my characters and stories, which my psychiatrist thought was a way of distracting myself from my PTSD.

Since you're into game design, maybe you could turn your stories into a game one day. There are lots of text-based and visual novel games out there. You could also incorporate some character designs. A lot of people have made games out of their life experiences. That Dragon, Cancer and Depression Quest come to mind. Celeste is another good game that takes inspiration from mental health. The world needs more of these games because they help people better understand mental health and to have empathy for people with mental health issues.

I'm sure lots of people would want to read your stories! The best stories are the ones that are written from the heart. Perhaps you could share it on a website online such as Deviantart.

[Bento]

Yeah, I would love to make a game based around my story one day. But first, I’d like to be able to share my work with people. Maybe once I start work on it I can share it here on a new forum? I am nervous about sharing my work with people though, because the thing is you never know how people are gonna react to it. People might either love it or they’ll be absolutely horrified, and you won’t know until you show it. Not to mention that on the internet there will always be that group of people that feel the need to bash other people’s work and try to discourage them. I think in the end though, I want to make this story for myself, but again if I can make other people happy with it that would be great.

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[Bento]

To be honest, doing creative hobby stuff is the only real way I can think of that really helps me deal with all the worries I've been having like my worries about climate change and looming threats to the planet, and seeing our attitude about protecting the planet getting more and more negative and hopeless in Australia. I do creative things in an attempt to take my mind off that stuff, or at least as much as possible. Stuff like putting together videos with Adobe and making cosplay outfits to wear at conventions, but most importantly creating my story and characters because the story will tie in with themes of mental health and the struggles in society. I want to start writing my story as soon as possible to get it out there because I think it will help me unload a lot of emotions and express myself, but I still need to plan the story out before I'm ready to start writing. I keep proscatonating and holding it off, I just want nothing more than to be able to write and finish a story I'm happy with.

[Bre-RO]

Hey @Bento My name is Bre - I'm a new staff member and just wanted to introduce myself to you. It's so nice to hear you've developed so many creative ways of managing stress. 

Self expression is definitely my favourite way of coping with worry. I love to write and have found that putting your story into words can be therapeutic and also be really valuable for other people like you. Have you thought about using a blogging site to write and share your story? I've heard WordPress is great for that and it's free to join. 

On the topic of Climate Change lots of people share your concerns and we have a forum where we can get those worries off our chest but also discuss what we can do. Climate Change Anxiety: How to cope is where you'll find those discussions.

[Bento]

I hope you don’t mind me replying after some time. I didn’t know what to write.

Did I specify before that I have asperger syndrome? I apparently only have a mild case and am “high-functioning”, but in society I feel very low-functioning. I have become terrified of people, I feel like I cannot mentally cope in our society with how negative people are in Australia. Every day I think to myself how I want to go back to the good old days when everything was perfect because I don’t belong here anymore. It’s like the song “1996” by The Wombats; “I’m not cut out for the modern life”. Whether it’s on the internet or in the city, there are so many aggressive dickish entitled people and they’re the ones who stand out because they actively try to bring everyone down, and boy do they succeed. My self-esteem often goes up and down like a rollercoaster too, and right now it’s pretty low. Lately I’ve been putting myself down because I think I’m a pathetic piece of crap, and I certainly feel like one. I’m at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The people who attract the most attention in western societies are arseholes. You know the saying “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”? Well that’s clearly not true; toxic people use that vinegar to drown the flies.

[letitgo]

Hey @Bento, not at all! We're happy to hear from you no matter how much time has passed

I wanted to add another website to the positive ones that @WheresMySquishy linked - Love Gives Me Hope is a collection of positive bite-sized stories of all kinds of love and scrolling through it makes me happy. I thought it might do the same for you  

I haven't heard that song by the Wombats, but I like that lyric. Thank you for sharing!

I'm sorry to hear that you've been putting yourself down and have been feeling so bleak about society lately

Sometimes when I feel like that, I try to make a list of things I'm grateful for, do you think that's something you could try?  

[Bento]

Thanks for suggesting the page, but it looks like it hasn’t been updated since 2014.
Have you heard of the YouTube creator Jaiden Animations? She makes animated videos where she talks about stuff, like telling stories, discussing things, and most importantly, offering advice and support based off her own personal experience. I love watching her videos, she is one of my favourite YouTube channels now and next month I’ll get to see her at a panel in VidCon Australia. Here are 3 videos that I’d recommend you check out.
On Relationships: https://youtu.be/4H9jTQKmR3Q
On Anxiety: https://youtu.be/sbtQp7C1MDs
On Self-Improvement: https://youtu.be/2RQH5Ycj1C8
She has some other videos that are more about funny topics, but these ones I thought were most relevant to this forum.

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