this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2025
43 points (93.9% liked)
ADHD
12329 readers
3 users here now
A casual community for people with ADHD
Values:
Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.
Rules:
- No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments.
- No porn, gore, spam, or advertisements allowed.
- Do not request for donations.
- Do not link to other social media or paywalled content.
- Do not gatekeep or diagnose.
- Mark NSFW content accordingly.
- No racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, or ageism.
- Respectful venting, including dealing with oppressive neurotypical culture, is okay.
- Discussing other neurological problems like autism, anxiety, ptsd, and brain injury are allowed.
- Discussions regarding medication are allowed as long as you are describing your own situation and not telling others what to do (only qualified medical practitioners can prescribe medication).
Encouraged:
- Funny memes.
- Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
- Questions on confusing situations.
- Seeking and sharing support.
- Engagement in our values.
Relevant Lemmy communities:
lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You sound as if you're having a depressive episode. I recognise it because I struggle with depression.
Depression is usually a reaction to real issues. The problem comes in when your psyche becomes overly focused on the negative aspects of your life, and can't fairly value the positive aspects. Think of it as seeing life through a grey veil, except your brain lies to you and tells you this is what's really true, and that before you were looking at life through rose-coloured glasses. It's not true.
Sending you hugs.
Yeah, Im very thankful for this. But the depression comes mainly from being american and living in america.
I believe you. I'm saddened watching the news out of America as an outsider, and I don't have your emotional attachment to the country.
If I was in your position, I can imagine I would be grieving right now. Grieving the loss of who and what you believed America stands for, grieving your lost confidence in your fellow Americans, grieving the future you hoped for and no longer see, grieving the loss of that part of your identity which used to be proud to be American. These are not minor things to grapple with, and the grieving process hurts. Leaving America won't make that hurt go away though.
Don't get me wrong. I've moved countries twice now, and I highly recommend it. It's a wonderful experience. However, it's also a very stressful thing to do, so only do it to move somewhere that you are excited about going to. Important is the "to", not the "from". It's a bit like moving in with a new partner, you're going to need those "honeymoon period" feelings to get you through the initial challenges 😄
It can definitely contribute, but parent poster's point is still entirely correct: you've got to work on you, mate. Moving countries may fix some triggers for depression, but it'll also likely introduce new ones, too. You need to work on your own mental health, and most people really benefit from proportional help with that because of our cognitive biases and difficulty identifying our own triggers and negative thought patterns.
In particular, labeling your depression as coming from loving in the US indicates you're likely missing other, internal factors.
The bad things are spreading abroad. The reason they ramped up dystopian surveillance measures around the world is so the rich can control the population when the coming AI-induced labor crisis makes normal people's labor unnecessary. People suddenly without access to resources will become dangerous. Humanity as a whole must overcome this. If there is a safe place, I am unaware. Americans just got stupider faster. Maybe by design due to the impacts of cultural visibility/influence and the need to make people world-wide as stupid as possible.
Edit: just my opinion
This is a beautiful response to a post I resonated a lot with and just wanted to say thank you. I go through awful seasonal depression every single year, but it's especially worse this year because... gestures around
It's been hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel with literal Fascism hanging over my head.
Thank you for your message, it helps me to know I'm not alone too. I'm sorry that you're having a rough time, SAD is the pits. It hit me hard my 1st few winters in Europe.
I trust you're taking your vitamin D and getting as much light as you can. I've got a new puppy, so no choice about going outside any more, no matter the weather 🥶 (I'll pm you tomorrow, I'm too lazy to upload a photo now.)
Tbh that's a big reason I don't think I could move abroad - I HATE cold weather, and all of Europe seems like they have longer and colder winters than the US... at least here in Virginia.
I am indeed taking my vitamin D supplements, although I could be getting more sunlight. I tend to hibernate in the winter bc, again, I HATE cold weather lol. Congrats on your new puppy!! They can definitely force us out of our comfort zones in the best way.
Hope you've adjusted to your new life in Europe, friend! My wife and I have been planning a big trip there in the next year or two. Any must-visit suggestions on places to see? We were eyeing a Mediterranean or Nordic cruise that stops in a few different countries, that seems like it'd be really cool.
Sorry for not replying earlier. My puppy has been very sick (vomiting and diarrhoea) and I was a bit overwhelmed 🙁
I need morning light to regulate my sleep, so it's a priority for me. I've been using a medical grade sunrise lamp for years now, and I aim for 3-5 minutes outside in the morning e.g. just standing on the balcony with my breakfast. Consistently going outside is hard though - I'm often running late, get distracted, etc. Everything else (light therapy glasses, a light therapy lamp in various places) just annoyed me eventually.
Snap on the cold weather 😂 I moved to London from South Africa, with the plan being to see Europe for a couple of years and then head somewhere warmer again. Instead I met my husband and eventually moved to Switzerland. At least Switzerland has actual summers, unlike England, but I still need to go somewhere sunny for a week in Jan or Feb.
A trip to Europe sounds awesome. Have you been before? My favourite places to visit are Italy, Spain, and France, so I'm biased towards the med. The Nordics are beautiful but cold, even in mid-summer, with icy winds as you head north. I bought my warmest coat on the Lofoten Islands in June 🥶
The med has been experiencing insane heat waves in summer for the last few years, so I don't recommend it in July-August, June and September are generally lovely though (and a bit less crowded).
I've never been on a cruise, so can't comment on that. I like to get a feel for the culture of a country, so prefer to travel around a single country, or maybe 2 neighbouring countries. For example, in 2022 we flew into Seattle, rented a car, and drove down the US west coast to San Diego over 2.5 weeks, which was awesome.
No need to apologize! I try to only check social media once or twice a day myself, although I love the fact that your username is what it is as you apologize for being late, lol! I hope your pup is feeling better, poor little pup... And poor you for needing to clean up all that!
I've tried those sunrise lamps myself but they never seemed to work... I didn't know they had "medical grade" ones though, which one do you have if you don't mind me asking? That sounds like a great morning routine... You've motivated me to try the same.
Oh wow, I imagine the climate in Europe was much different from South Africa! Very cool you met your husband there, I love coincidental stories like that. We've never been to Europe, which means our list of countries we want to visit seems to be ever-growing lol. Thank you so much for the tips - I'm the same as you, I like to immerse myself as much as possible when traveling rather than sticking to the super touristy spots. I'll keep what you said in mind 😊
Your trip to the US sounds so fun! I lived in California for several years when I was younger - the entire west coast is just insanely beautiful, and San Diego is actually my favorite city in the country! Such a cool vibe. That trip along the coast is soo fun. I've actually never done it all the way to Seattle, but we made the trip from San Diego to San Francisco several times when we lived there. Glad you got to experience that... That's another reason it's so sad what's happening in America right now. There are so many incredible places to visit here, and the fact that we seem to be trying to keep visitors OUT right now is just a travesty 😔