I'm writing this like a letter.

I started skipping school when i was in the 8th grade, not to go smoke weed or party, but because i was depressed and couldn't get out of bed. I eventually got my GED instead of finishing because it was seemingly impossible for me to maintain my acedemics for an entire school year. I would go for 2 months and then skip for 2 months effectively undoing all the work i had done and falling too far behind to catch back up. I was never held back because i was able to pass tests to move to the next grade, but i basically stopped going to school in the 10th grade.

I got my first job when i was 17 at my cousins construction company he built with his father. I quit that after a day and got my first long term job at Kroger. I worked there for 3 months, fell into a depression again and stopped showing up. Again i got another job, at Burger King this time. I worked there for 8 months now before becoming horrifically depressed and quitting. I remember walking up to my boss with tears in my eyes saying "i'm sorry, i have to go home." And I never went back.

I still had my family and a couple of close friends at this point until my mother kicked me out for fighting with my step father. I lived in my car for 2 weeks before moving in with the future mother of my son. I found love and was basically intoxicated by it. I got a job at the Kroger near our house and worked there for a few months but eventually quit too when i became depressed and unstable. Mind you, since i was 6 years old i have been on prescription medications for behavioral disorders, ADD, ADHD, ODD, until eventually i was diagnosed with type 2 bipolar disorder at 12 years old. In total i have been on 19 different medications over the course of 20 years.

Cut back to living with ashley, eventaully we got our own place when i was 19 and we quickly became unhappy. Largely because of me being unable to engage with her in a productive way due to my psychological shortcomings. After 3 months we moved out of there and i went back home. Approximately 2 months after that my mom kicked me out again, i lived in a motel for a month and ashley stayed with me a lot until eventually she met a guy when she was out with her friends and she cheated on me, eventually leaving me to be with him.

20 years old now, no parents, no friends, no girlfriend, sitting in a motel room alone. I called my brother to help me because i'm certain that if i stayed there i would not be alive today. My mother let me come back and i basically did nothing for a while. Eventually i got a job at k-mart as an overnight stock for 2 months and then again i couldn't continue. In 2011 i got a job at white castle. I quickly moved up to managment and then ashley came back into my life. We got a place and a year later found out she was pregnant. We were by no means functionally happy. Again, in large part because of me. After logan was born it was like i was intoxicated again with my love for him, but his mother and i were not happy and a few months after his birth i moved out.

We stayed together but we couldn't live together. I quit my lucrative job at white castle because of the depression and anxiety that was building. Some days i couldn't leave the house, who am i kidding, some WEEKS i couldn't leave the house. I moved into my current home in 2013. Living apart from ashley made parenting very hard and put a strain on our relationship that we idn't recover from. I had jobs on and off just like normal, but i couldn't be there as much as i liked or as much as she needed. I got a great job at NCO financial in an office with real opportunity to move up. A few months after that ashley cheated on me with a coworker and my life fell apart again. I began passing out at my desk from severe anxiety attacks, having to pull over on my way to work on the freeway many times when i felt one coming for fear of passing out and crashing. Eventually i could no longer do my job at NCO.

A few months later i got a job at fedex and worked there for about 3 months until i started having crying spells. As i was piling boxes in the back of a semi trailer, tears streaming down my cheeks, i remember clearly thinking "I would rather die than continue this." I walked out of the trailer, i turned in my scanner and left. I didn't work for a year and a half after that. In 2015 i got a job at a burger king franchise with joey and made really great money. Ashley came back into my life and moved in. We quickly realized it wasn'tgoing to work, again in large part because of me. I became depressed again, i tried to file for FMLA and take a leave of absence from work but you have to be there for a certain amount of time before that is available for you. I was eventually fired for not coming in, i ended my friendship with my longest friend, and i was completely and utterly alone.

In 2017 i got a job as a general manager of little caesars, after a month i quit. I seemed to be getting worse, the time it was taking for the job and the interactions and the depression to become unbearable were shrinking. And for the first time in my life, i didn't leave the house for probably 2 months outside of grocery shopping. Since last year i have been in my house alone doing nothing. Drinking. Gaining weight. Becoming the worst me i can imagine. You might think "why are you telling me this?" Well, honestly i just wanted to write, and as of now you are the only ear that listens. But also, i wanted to be transparent and kind of illustrate why i'm always so depressed and unhappy.

Theres a point when you come upon a threshhold, a tolerance, of what burden you can carry while still moving foreward. And since the 8th grade i have not been able to consistently complete long term plans or do anthing for very long periods of time. The problems i have put immense strain on the people around me, and because they love me they try to carry some of the burden i have, until they inevitably (and understandably) find their own threshhold and leave. And after almost 16 years of trying to build a sustainable life, failing, trying, failing, trying, failing and trying and failing again. I realized one thing, i will never have the formula or tools i need to maintain a normal life. And i have run out of reasons to convince myself it's worth it to keep trying.

With a lifetime of therapy, medicine, friends, lovers, and family, none of it was able to pick of the slack of what i emotionally and mentally didn't posess. And now i live in my house truly alone. There is no one left to lose. Nothing left to ruin. And the soul crushing idea that i lack the tools to create those positive things again, and even if i could i lack the tools and ability to maintain them and keep those bonds and assets healthy enough to want to stay with me. So that is why i am the way i am. And.. yeah, that's that.

Thanks for sharing. Why were you initially depressed?

that's a whole thing to read,Xeb..your life seems to be up/down of jobs,broken and again repaired relationship etc..i think your condition has to do with rebellion towards someone higher then your status...i see your symptoms back in Cindy==the daughter of my cousin==she's 36 now,unruly,probably ODD and AHDD etc...my cousin had a talk with me few days ago and that girl is so to say **a real pain in the ass**she becomes agressive,cannot control her anger,and a constant worry for her parents,unpredictable,a job is not possible..she's in institution and institution..going into a psychological test the doc told my cousin she has the mind of a 6 year old..i cannot imagine what kind of life that is for her parents..reading your posting it's more a refusal of authority,getting angry at yourself and others maybe?are you easily irritable?do you blame others for your condition?i do not understand the point you cannot keep 1 job for longer periods?do you have a tendency to take revenge if you feel that people do not treat you the way you wanna be treated?are you a challenger?my cousins daughter often tries to bully everyone around her just to upset them..i think i cannot live with that fact..so in your case?i believe there's only 1 main solution==therapy==are you on medication or ever have been on it??anyway..we here at TTL welcome you and listen to your story...on this website nobody will ever be alone...we are all ears...a better world starts with acceptance and toleration..not judging..people who judge too much often judge their own behaviour..

No reason other than manic depression brought on by my bipolar disorder. When i started skipping school and quitting my first jobs, i had no reason to be depressed other than brain chemistry.

The diagnosis i had when i was younger of ADD, ADHD, ODD, they were misdiagnosed type 2 bipolar disorder. When i was a kid they were diagnosing the symptoms of bipolar disorder not bipolar disorder itself. To answer your questions, no i don't blame other people. In fact i say several times throughout my post that it's because of my shortcomings that my relationships were broken. I don't seek revenge, I don't might have anger issues, i think there might be some truth to me intentionally or unintentionally manipulating people around me.

But i think the biggest factor for people in my life was just the constant up and down. I can see how being around that for extended periods of time can be emotionally draining. There doesn't seem to be a solution other than just not being me anymore.

I used to have a mentality of "i won't let my mental illness define me as a person." And i struggled vehemently to not let people have a certain perception of me, and i wouldn't even let people know i am bipolar. But i'm just tired fo the facade now. Mental illness isn't something you can just will away, or overcome through desire.

Imagine telling an autistic kid to just will himself out of a frenzy. I feel like bipolar disorder is similar to that albeit less extravagant. Instead of screaming and crying when a stranger talks to me, i get depressed and suicidal, or i get paranoid and can't leave my room, or i have anxiety attacks that cause me to lose consciousness. It's not something i can just get over. Ya know? Anyways.. I appreciate your response.

Since it's purely psychiatric and not psychological/sociological, sounds like you might want to find new meds?

I also appreciate the contribution. It's brave of you to do so. Kudos to you.

Best to go to doctor or therapist for any diagnostics. People speculate their own labels here which I see no issue with but no one else should do that for you here since we don't have enough context on your issues. We only know so much from a user's posts.

Good luck on your journey! Stay strong

Have you tried some supplements for your chemistry imbalance? I know it sounds shallow, but I personally believe, that strong meds prescribed by docs do more damage than good and most of them are highly addictive.

Look into nootropics on reddit. There is a lot of info on how to balance out serotonin, dopamine with things like 5 http and alike. I would first probably do the blood work, then go from there.

I know, being in depression fog is hard to pull yourself together, but if not yourself, no one will do it for you.

And stay away from Ashley. She keeps letting you down by cheating. I understand you are not an easy person to deal with, but whether she is in or she is out. She is your trigger.