The mental health check-in thread

This is of course related to the infamous LQ Mental health and suicide prevention thread

Holidays almost over, the New Year is almost upon us... anyone want to check in?

Me, still here, doing well enough. Started a mental health support group a few weeks ago, which is going fine so far. Played piano at a community meal a couple weeks ago. Registered on LinkedIn a few weeks ago. Feel free to connect with me there (even if you're a foreigner from Australia).

I think this is a very good idea, Andy. I intimated over in the Slackware forum that I'm alone over the Christmas period but I don't see this as being an issue. I like being on my own, but it did have an interesting side-effect of showing me the importance of stability and familiarity in certain areas [e.g. my Slackware box had issues so I converted it to Debian - a stable, familiar OS is an extremely important tool in the modern age; something that a lot of people - *nix or not - underestimate].

I've been going to the GP for my mental health issues and have been prescribed medication, though I haven't taken it. I'm still on the fence about that. To be fair the NHS has been really good, but only if you score above a certain level in their tests. Otherwise you get thrown on the 'later' pile. But, like dentistry, you do have to do most of the work yourself, they can only do so much. But still, I'm fine at the moment.

This does mean I will probably spend NYE on my own which I also don't see as being a bad thing. I've always disliked NYE and even going to the top of a hill to watch fireworks I find tedious with everyone counting down and getting excited - it's just not something that I relate to, I would just rather listen to some decent music and have a cognac. A NYE party is my idea of a social nightmare.

It might be a good idea if people talked about not only themselves but maybe others close to them they're concerned about. A lot of users here may have friends or relatives who have issues they wish to discuss.

I agree with you Lysander; I'm a "loner" on Christmas and NYE, but like you, I don't see it as a bad thing. And like you, I don't really want to be around hundreds of people on NYE, particularly in crowded public places. Let alone when they are all drinking themselves stupid, and I'm basically "the lightweight", or "the misfit" - it doesn't sound like fun to me. I also totally agree with you that a NYE party sounds like a social nightmare too.

I prefer to just be around a few people that I can honestly call friends, rather than god only knows how many people. Like you, I'd much prefer to just listen to some music, rather than be a part of some silly countdown. I've never really understood the appeal of that, really don't get it to be perfectly honest with you. So I couldn't agree with you more - I'll probably be logging into LQ before I'd be partaking in some silly countdown

But look on the bright side; you aren't alone, you've got LQ

I don't have any mental health issues that I know of and I get very tired of people expecting me to have them because I live alone. I like living alone. I remember that when my mother was alive, I was constantly losing my temper and wondering if there was something wrong with me. Now I never do.

Christmas was quiet but that was a relief because I had a very busy advent with carol concerts and everything. It was nice to finally be able to relax. As for new year, I like going to bed in one year and waking up in the next. Waiting up till twelve is a bore because nothing actually happens then.

Get a dog. Be happy. Just be with it when all the fireworks go off - you'll be loved. Lonely be damned.

+1 to that. Dogs are well known to be therapeutic. If you're lonely, a cat on your lap is nice too.

Glad someone mentioned dogs I am down to 6 but I should be REALLY happy with that many...no real mental health issues here but I do have a mild case of OCD. Fortunately the wife does too and we have managed to mellow each other out over the years.

Good thread - mental health never receives the attention it deserves because of the stigma. We are complex creatures and all of us different. What bothers one may not faze the other at all. I think that is why it is difficult for someone who does not suffer from mental health issues to understand someone who does and why.

As somebody with an odd personality I'm enjoying the memory of an xmas dinner of croquets from a vending machine and a new year countdown spent watching fireworks while drinking champagne, illegally, outside a royal palace with an ex and her friends. But those were years ago.
This is a confusing time of year but I'm coming to think of it simply as some time off work.
Oh, and you forgot cats. Yes, OK, they are really just waiting for you to die so they caneat you but they are funny.

No mental health issues here, but checking in anyway. Glad everyone is doing well and apologies for putting my foot in my mouth in the other thread.

Originally Posted by Lysander666 This does mean I will probably spend NYE on my own which I also don't see as being a bad thing. I've always disliked NYE and even going to the top of a hill to watch fireworks I find tedious with everyone counting down and getting excited - it's just not something that I relate to, I would just rather listen to some decent music and have a cognac. A NYE party is my idea of a social nightmare.

New years eve is quite simply a load of old bollocks. We're just over an hour away from it here... I will be glad when it's over.

I never remember any fireworks on new years eve until 2000, it seems that it all started then. Fireworks, used to be bonfire night, now it seems that any excuse and there's bloody fireworks.

"bloody kids [etc]"

Happy New Year

I was planning to go to bed early last night. Go to bed in 2019, wake up in 2020. But some neighbours over the road decided to have a very noisy firework party, so I decided that as I wasn't going to get any sleep, I might as well stand in the window and watch the display. I didn't get to bed until 12:20 AM. Not exactly good for one's mental health!

Originally Posted by cynwulf ...I will be glad when it's over.

It's over... until next year

Originally Posted by hazel I was planning to go to bed early last night. Go to bed in 2019, wake up in 2020. But some neighbours over the road decided to have a very noisy firework party, so I decided that as I wasn't going to get any sleep, I might as well stand in the window and watch the display. I didn't get to bed until 12:20 AM. Not exactly good for one's mental health!

While I wasn't staying up for the fireworks and didn't even go outside to look at them, nor was I planning on going to bed ... I only knew it was 2020 because all I could hear even with headphones on listening to music was "BANG", "POP", BANG" come 12:00AM... it sounded like they let one off in my "modern backyard" (by "modern backyard" I mean a tiny piece a bare ground that's probably smaller than a prison cell) ...

Around nineish in the evening I got distracted while doing several repeated builds of bleeding edge packages from source (a rather rare activity for me) and doing a second task concurrently. My focus was disrupted by a lot of noise and I noticed that the clock was less than a minute to rolling over to the next day. So though it was not the intention, I ended up being awake at the time.

The good news: it seems that OpenZFS source packages build without needing tweaking even with a 32-bit Linux kernel on the Raspberry Pi!

Happy and prosperous New Year!

On the one hand this thread has gone rather off-topic by talking about New Year's, but on the other maybe it is related since it shows that a lot of people do find this time of year stressful, and I imagine that there is a collective sigh of relief around the world in some quarters now that the whole thing is drawing to a close. I had a really nice NYE in the end, things went to plan and I got a great view of the [local] fireworks out my window since it looks out on the SE London skyline for a clear mile. The neighbours had guests over but they weren't too loud at all [I kind of drowned them out with the music anyway]. I ended up going to bed at about 3.30am after playing Dusk on and off throughout the evening, it was a great night.

Happy New Year, everyone, and be sure to look after yourself psychologically - that's going to be a big focus for me this year, with 2019 being just the very beginning of a long road of improvement and self-monitoring [and professional monitoring].