Where do I even begin to improve on myself?

[aikou]

I'm an 18 year old shut-in. I've been this way since my late 16s and since then my depression and social anxiety have started to become a lot more prevalent in my life. I've tried to end my life twice, both times by hanging. After both failed attempts I promissed to not do it again to my parents but every now and then, even with the strong medication I take, the thoughts of cutting myself, jumping off a tall place, or simply put just ending it all come back to me and I seriously consider it.

I was thinking of perhaps starting going to online school since I did not complete my last year of high school.

If you have any useful tips or threads related to self-improvement please inform you.
Good Night.

 

[kyhoti]

This may sound dumb, but bear with me, as this is my personal experience. I have started off small, with the things on the list I attached. Some days I hit seven, sometimes not. Numbers 2 & 7 refer to stuff from a 12-Step program I do, but that can be replaced with "read something inspirational/spiritual" & "connect with other people somehow".

Little wins seem to make my day better. Doing the list in order seems to be the best way at the moment. Good luck.

 

[_AllCatsAreGrey_]

I'm sorry you're struggling in this way.

I think your idea of completing school is nice. If nothing else it can serve as a distraction. There are many ways to improve yourself. I feel a good place to start is identifying some values you have and working towards actualizing them however you can currently. I have found ACT (action and commitment therapy) ideas helpful for working towards this.

Here is an intro about ACT.

 

[Praestat_Mori]

I'm sorry you're struggling but with 18 there's nothing lost. It's difficult to start sth when being depressed but there has to be a starting point somewhere. You find a lot of recovery resources in the sticky threads, there's also a recovery support thread, you can join. You take meds already, do u receive therapy?

But keep in mind if your depression is a result of external factors/circumstances that have a negative impact on you, you have to change those, otherwise, it's unlikely that meds and therapy will be successful. I wish you all the best.

 

[420Jack]

Perhaps by reading/listening to basic reputable self help books?


For myself I loved the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" I found it to be awesome in discussing human communication and how to be effective in conversation in positive ways. It's available for free in audio format on youtube.

 

[aikou]

I'm sorry you're struggling but with 18 there's nothing lost. It's difficult to start sth when being depressed but there has to be a starting point somewhere. You find a lot of recovery resources in the sticky threads, there's also a recovery support thread, you can join. You take meds already, do u receive therapy?

But keep in mind if your depression is a result of external factors/circumstances that have a negative impact on you, you have to change those, otherwise, it's unlikely that meds and therapy will be successful. I wish you all the best.

Thanks for the resources! And no, I do not receive therapy (although I am considering it at this point since my psychologist is kind of useless), I only have a psychologist and psychiatrist.

This may sound dumb, but bear with me, as this is my personal experience. I have started off small, with the things on the list I attached. Some days I hit seven, sometimes not. Numbers 2 & 7 refer to stuff from a 12-Step program I do, but that can be replaced with "read something inspirational/spiritual" & "connect with other people somehow".

Little wins seem to make my day better. Doing the list in order seems to be the best way at the moment. Good luck.

I'll try this out, thanks!

 

[lost_ange2211]

Well the biggest question is what would you like to change / what do you want to improve.
Make a list with the things you want changed, with your goals, small steps, baby steps, nothing too big. Maybe you will end up with categories like mental health or physical health.

After that think about ways to achieve what you want. Maybe you will even find more steps you have to take to get to your improvements but the smaller the better.

Then after all the planning start with one single small objective from the list and put it into action. Maybe make a small scheduel to put said 'step to improvement' into your daily life. When you got the hang of it and integrated it into your daily life you can add another point if the list and so on.

Mist important to remember is that improvements and change needs time and it's a process towards it. There might be fallbacks but as long as you keep on going towards your goal afterwards you can achieve it.