There you go, not only are you a devoted parent and care about others with mental illness (like walking for NAMI!), but a valued employee at your work place among many other things! Deep inside you know you have accomplished alot and for someone to recognize or reaffirm your accomplishments through praise makes you feel good yet undeserving of it because of depression...hence the crying perhaps? Members, have you also reacted the same to compliments from others as has Goofy?
Brenna, I don't know how to do that. I had an incident at work yesterday where the "big" boss was coming out of her office and she said, "Have I told you lately what a great job you are doing?". I felt myself starting to cry. I began thinking - don't be nice to me, don't be nice to me, I might cry. She is aware of my depression. She asked what was wrong and I verbalized - don't be nice to me I might cry. I've had this problem with people being nice to me since the depression started. I always had a minor problem at times accepting compliments. NOW, someone can't tell me anything nice without me "starting to cry".
I am proud of my educational attainment but I know I am not using it now. After she said that - my reaction re: the crying had nothing to do with this part - Later I thought well, heck, of course I am I used to do a, b, c and d and not blink and 10x as many things as I do now, etc, etc. etc. with the used to's. I guess rationalizing away her compliment?????
Goofy,
You make such a fantastic observation in this post. You have great parenting skills, like many of your other skills, but you don't feel quite as accomplished in other areas as you do in parenting. What can you do to feel accomplished in other areas of your life?
Members, This is a great topic here. Many of us are very proud of at least one area of our life but don't feel as good about other areas. How can we share this accomplished feeling to other areas of our lives?
You know I don't have any questions in my mind, maybe through verbal feedback from him, his accomplishments, his caring attitude and inclusive attitude toward me, about my skills as a single parent. That is one area I know I can be proud of. I also get feedback from others (having started so young, most people I guess are "surprised"). I won't comment on that. However, I feel a sense of accomplishment and feel good about ME when I think about him! I wish I could transfer that to other areas of my life. Feel good about other things I've accomplished, done, feel, etc. I guess "success stories" is not a good place to write this.
It sounds like you have a great son and a great relationship with him and his family. You have done a wonderful job raising him and he sounds like he appreciates it. You should be very proud of him and yourself.
I am so happy for you. Your son sounds like such a great man. I wish you both a great ride and a great walk. and wow Nami is such a great organization! As for love you M&B I think it is great :)
Thanks y'all. I was going up earlier but am waiting on him. I appreciate him so much! He is so awesome (though I may be a bit biased). I'll make sure to tell him. When he was a little fellow we had this saying "mostest and bestest". So he not be embarassed about saying he loved me when he left (they go through that stage). We still have that saying (along with his wife and daughter) but it also is preceeded by I love you mostest and bestest! We also sign our cards Love M & B! Is that gushy between a mother and child(+his family)?
Goofy,
I got goose bumps when I read your post. Be thankful for such a great son. Make sure you let him know how much you appreciate his actions. Please let us know how the walk goes!
