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Old Nov 03, 2009, 11:38 PM
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googley googley is offline
Wise Elder
 
Member Since: Jan 2009
Posts: 7,516
Hello and welcome.

Another thing to mention along with all the wonderful advice above is that sleep is a really important part of staying healthy. Especially with issues like depression. I am assuming since you are a firefighter you do 12 on 12 off or 24 on 24 off or some other schedule that is not the normal 9-5 (I could be wrong). I'm a student and I know when I have to stay up for tests or writing papers, just a couple of nights can really throw me for a loop. If you see a therapist or Pdoc you might want to look into ways of making the most of the sleep that you do get. Also one of the biggest things that I have learned to do (and I still have to work at it) is saying no to people. This includes my family. I can't always be at their beck and call when they need me. It is hard but necessary. It seems like you might need some practice also in using the word 'no' and feeling comfortable about it. When I started using it, I would first use, "let me think about it" instead of a direct 'no'. This let me think about if it was something I wanted/needed to do before answering. It took practice for me to still say 'no'. But it was easier than starting off saying no to everything.

Good luck.