Hey everyone,

sorry I don’t have a picture just an album cover for my thing, but anyway.

I just wanted to write something, because I want to participate in the forum. I have been an inactive member forever. Today was a fairly good day. I think it comes down to friends. Now, there have been times in my life when my anxiety was so high I could not maintain a friendship, even with people reaching out to me. But I had to learn to get over that. So today was chess day. I started a new job that requires quite a bit from me, physically and mentally. Around Thursday I was looking forward for today. We went to a cafe and I invited more people than usual. We had two chess boreds going, and good conversation. I invited some people who I was unsure how much of a friend they really are, but wanted to let my stupid feelings go. It was great because I connected with a friend who I was unsure of…. We saw eye to eye on a lot of things, including our job, and shared some of the same beliefs in our spiritual philsophies. I think my small group of friends has helped me to battle my depression, and to get more enjoyment out of life. All my close friends are people that I admire. I heard it said that if you want to know who you are, take a look at your five closest friends, or three, or two…. They will reflect who you are. Even if you do not see those qualities in yourself, they are there, because our friends are a reflection of us. If you have crappy people as friends, who besides our basic human flaws, have serious defects in personality, morality, or whatever, then they reflect you. I am just rambling a bit now. But I really think that my friends are a huge part in me dealing my my depression, that has been severe and dehabilitating for many years of my life. I hope that everyone reading this has some good people they know, I know we all don’t have family, and sometimes family isn’t the people we want to know. But some of us have good people in our family, and good friends. And if we don’t have family chances are we have a person or two that we admire, and that we can depend on. These people are like touch stones to sanity. And they can help us steer out of oblivion and self defeat when we think about the impact they have in our lives. Think about the good things you see in them, and know that they are within you as well. That has helped me out of serious depressions and bouts with self pity and the like.

With honesty of heart,

P