Hey all,

Some of you might remember that I used to be pretty active on this board. I guess I've been gone for a while now. I still lurk and read posts some of the time, but I've been crazy busy. I wanted to tell you all what became of me, since life is suddenly good again.

After being depressed for ages -- having lost my job, having panicked about my lack of education credentials for the field I work in, having seen my ex-longtime-love become involved with someone new -- these are the things I've done:

1. Found a new job in spite of a less-than-stellar resume (though I do have lots of good work experience). And I like it (though the first couple of months were high-stress while I tried to adjust).

2. Enrolled in a certificate program in my field. Certificate programs are great since they can tailor to the level of experience and I don't have to take anything redundant. I'm now officially a student at www.Sessions.edu -- The classes are hard but I'm really enjoying them and learning a lot of stuff I didn't know and improving my work (I'm a self-taught designer since I didn't know what I wanted to study back when I was in school).

3. I talked to lots of folks about what was going on with me (here as well as IRL). IRL I couldn't seem to talk as well to the friends I'd been closest to in the past. But I talked to lots of folks who had been acquaintances but are now good friends. I found tremendous support there. I filled my life with work, therapy (still doing group as well as individual), classes, etc. so that I'd be too busy to be depressed. And just when I was too busy to even begin to have time for it, I met someone new and am dating again (for a couple of months now). And after all the therapy I've had it's SO different. So easy to talk and communicate. Definitely different. Scary because I wonder what will happen (will I change my mind about this guy?) but also exciting. And definitely validating to feel desirable again.

Okay I hope I don't sound like I'm just totally bragging here. That's not my intent. But I did want to say that things *can* get better. I was in the darkness for so long. Days when I felt I just wanted to play in traffic, when I felt like there was nothing left. Now I can hardly remember why I felt that way. I guess I'm back in the game. Maybe that'll be encouraging to other folks I don't know.

Therapy's still helpful as always. Though now it's harder to figure out what to work on since I'm no longer just trying to stay afloat. All the communication stuff is really paying off though.

And that's the update in my world. Hope you all are well. Sorry I don't write much nowadays but I do try to read posts. You guys were so helpful to me when I was so confused and depressed.

Thanks,
Sidony