Feeling Low

Being a real man does not necessarily mean keeping it to yourself, some real men learn to deal with problems by sharing them. Feeling low is something we all do from time to time. Most of the time it is fairly easy to identify the cause, and to know that we are just going through a rough patch because life is like that. Sometimes it can become more serious and the cause is not clear. At such times all of life starts to feel pointless and our personal, social and business lives start to suffer because we cannot concentrate, or struggle to deal with everyday events. Then we need some help to sort out what is going on, to know why we feel the way we do, and how to reduce these terrible and disruptive feelings. Here is a plan which might help if you feel like you can't cope.

* Find a quiet place and write down what you think bothers you the most. Sometimes just doing this will help you to see things more clearly so that they become more manageable.
* Think about who you would most like to talk to about your worries. this can be a friend, a relative or a stranger who is trained to help or to find the right help, such as your doctor or the Samaritans (details on directory page ). These can be good places to go as they are accustomed to seeing people with problems, they will guarantee privacy and confidentiality and they are unlikely to be shocked by anything you tell them is worrying you.
* Some of the more obvious solutions such as booze or drugs will probably make you feel better for a while but will almost certainly make you feel worse in the long run. This is called avoidance and is often more harmful than helpful, unless you can make long term changes.
* If you can identify what makes you feel low, try to make the changes in your life which avoid these situations although some of these changes may be huge and will almost certainly involve talking them through first with others. Some are not so big such as not spending as much time alone, although they can still present problems which are hard to solve.
* A major cause of feeling low can be stress, the two often being bound together in our lives.