Article: 2357 of alt.support.depression.recovery From: "Howard Hong" Subject: It was hard... Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 15:24:33 -0400 Lines: 21 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.2106.4 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4 Message-ID: Newsgroups: alt.support.depression.recovery NNTP-Posting-Host: heraeus-inc.com 38.164.253.2 Path: news1.meer.net!news3.best.com!news2.best.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.cwix.com!cpmsnbbsb04!cpmsnbbsa07 Xref: news1.meer.net alt.support.depression.recovery:2357 In some respects, my life had been too easy. I was far too bright for my classes, and my parents had always taken care of the messy chores and financial stuff. I didn't know how to handle things when they got hard. Lately I've gotten in the habit of doing things that are hard on a regular basis. I don't do hard things all of the time, but I do know that life isn't supposed to be 100% easy all of the time. After I do the hard things, I find that the same tasks become easier later. And they stay easy. Talking to people used to be the hardest thing in the world for me. I'd forever be thinking about what was _the_ perfect thing to say, and how to say it. I'd take so long thinking about it that I never got around to actually doing it. So, I eventually forced myself to just do it and nevermind the results. It was hard the first few times, and I had to consciously force myself to do it. But then, things suddenly got easier. The things that I had to consciously think about the first time, became mere reflex. I could do things without thinking about it at all. But I had to go through the time when I had to force myself through the hard part. Sort of like building strength through lifting weights.