Daniel Sullivan

How I Beat Depression and Found Happiness



Posted: Wednesday, January 06, 2010

by
Air Purifying and Filters

The toughest moments in my life were watching my son die of cancer. The view of him in pain and hooked up to all the tubes haunted me for a few years. The flashbacks and the dreams were completely unbearable. I got to the point that I had attempted suicide, although I was in treatment at the time. So where did I go wrong?

I had some good people helping me along with medication, but I ignored them. I thought I could do it all on my own. I stopped taking the medication and stop listening to the counselors. I soon found myself in the bathroom at a golf course taking a handful of pills and washing them down with alcohol. To say the least I survived, duh! But it took me going to that extreme and finally listening to the professionals to realize I controlled my feelings, I could be happy.

Our own happiness, I found, lies within ourselves. It is a matter of changing our thought process. After years of using negative energy I knew this would be a lot of work, but the end results were worth it. I have been told the average person has 60,000 thoughts a day, to try to control each thought will put you in a padded room somewhere. I learned to control what I could. Example, I lost my job. Instead of seeing this as the end of the world, I saw an opportunity to get into a new profession. I was happier that day than I had been in quite a while.

Every morning I wake up I use two methods to start my day. The first is gratitude. Be thankful for everything you have no matter how small. Secondly, I look in the mirror and tell myself to accept me for who I am and forgive myself for past mistakes. The past is just that and there is nothing you can do about it, (unless you have a time machine) so let it go. I do all this while I am getting ready every morning for that day.

During the day I take pleasure in the small things, I smile for no reason at all, I say Good Morning to that stranger on the train, I wave to my neighbor, and when traffic is bad and someone needs to get in my lane I let them. All this things may seem small, but they make me feel good about myself and you could never have too much of that.

In the evening I think about what tomorrow will be like and envision all the positives that will happen. I think over and over that only good things will happen. Now I am not stupid (that you know of), some bad things happen, but with the proper positive attitude you can handle anything that comes your way. As I see it, the worst thing I could think of has happened to me and I'm still here. By just using these simple tools I am happier than ever. Have a great day.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Anonymous
 2 years 8 days ago.
It takes great courage and hard work to come back from a loss like yours.
 
I know it is hard to open up and tell your story to strangers. Thank you for writing, I believe it could help save the life of someone who still suffers.
» left by Daniel Sullivan 2 years 6 days ago.
4 fans.
Thank you very much for your comments. I hope I can help at least one person.
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