Origin story - why i was meant to coach

"This sub-forum (r/getdisciplined) is full of methods and I keep seeing the same advice rephrased over and over again. It's all very good and useful. Lots of practical things that you can do. But when you're at the deep point of depression you desperately want to make a change but feel powerless to do so. That's okay, don't beat yourself up about it. As long as you keep doing the best you can manage and truly decide that you're going to get better, you will."

I continue to relate my story from brilliant child into academic wreck and back again. Having gone through stages of environmental grief and depression, I used self-coaching and reaching out to good resources in order to get better. 

Here's the most actionable tidbits for you:

"In retrospect, if I were trying to optimize my time, the things that brought the most progress for the amount of time were steps 1 & 3. Professional help. Find a good therapist, one that you connect with, one that is not at the bottom of the barrel. If you cannot afford a therapist at all, get a workbook that feels right for you. Go into a store that sells paper books and leaf through it. Just like with a therapist, you want to connect with it - the writing style, the design, the subject matter, even the approach. I would recommend the following methodologies for depressive types (in order of increasing severity to overcome): cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, and acceptance and commitment therapy. An amazing book that I have to keep buying because I'm constantly giving it away is: Feeling Good. Really good for us sciencey types that need to understand the why before we will believe it. If you can, supplement your workbook by getting a coach."

And additionally, a key component of getting better is making the decision and the commitment to do so. Which can be a hard step sometimes, but you are going to do great if you reach deep inside yourself. It's always there.

"But, for all of this to actually work out, you have to WANT to get better. Are you ready to get better? Are you ready to do whatever you need to, for as long as you need to, so that you can live a better life? Are you ready to suck at it until you don't suck any more because you won't give up? If you're unsure at all, then you need to question why, because that is the core engine of all of this.
I didn't mention mindfulness as the best bang for buck. Mindfulness is essential, but it is a longterm lifestyle thing, and will bring you some success right away, but the gains increase slowly unless you're hardcore dedicated."


Read the full story over on reddit.