

World Mental Health Awareness Day: What Depression feels like (for me).

Depression sinks into your very soul, and you stop knowing how to love yourself; the thought just isn’t fucking there, and to even hear it, write it, be surrounded by the constant reminders of “Love yourself” does nothing when you feel as if you need that self love to EARN the love of others. People with depression put much more stock into what others say and think about them versus what they think of themselves. That concept of self love? Do you realize how completely IMPOSSIBLE it SEEMS to someone with depression? Of course self-love is real, and so very important, but seems like utter BULLSHIT to someone with depression. “Why the fuck should I love myself? What have I done to deserve any love?” Those are the thoughts that LIVE inside the mind. Everybody feels those thoughts once in awhile, everybody feels down and useless and yes, we all bend and break and regret and wish for change and a chance to do it over, but people with depression LIVE that. EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND. And sure, in moments they can feel brave, strong, and as if the fight is worth it, but those moments are so, so hard.

As a friend to someone with depression, do not ever say “This shit is getting old.” You’ve only seen the surface, and yes it isn’t fair for a friend to have to ALWAYS deal with someone who is constantly down in the dumps, but if you say that line you are pretty much ensuring some major self-hatred in the future. People with depression understand how much of a burden they can be, how much they place onto others, and how unfair that is.


And asking “Well why are you depressed” is an oxymoron; there is no real answer, and thinking about it makes the person feel even worse; they have no “real” reason to feel bad, and that makes the guilt even worse. So what can you do for someone who seems to be suffering from depression? Exist to them. Do not try to take them out of there comfort zone in an attempt to make them “change”. By saying they need change, you enforce the idea that they are broken, which they ARE NOT. They aren’t depressed because they stay in, watch movies, don’t want to go out, don’t want to drink, etc etc. By forcing a change in habit you are forcing a person to believe that to be happy, they HAVE to conform to a new way of life. They just want to FEEL NORMAL DOING EVERYTHING. That is it. Plain and simple. The depressed want to be able to listen music, write a song, go for a walk without feeling so damn, fucking morbid about it. They want to feel what others feel, to feel as if they aren’t wasting time, wasting space, wasting away for nothing. The problem is they never can accept that they need to just do what fulfills them; that whole “do whatever makes you happy” line. Depression means when you find something that makes you happy, you feel GUILTY about it, like why do you deserve something like this? Why do you deserve to smile? To laugh?


Everything becomes a big question of why why why and o me me me. And to top it all off, they realize how selfish that sounds, to only think about themselves, how this process of constantly feeling as if you deserve nothing is actually dragging down those closest to you, and makes depression a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, to recap all of that: People with depression feel hopeless, and because of that they feel guilty. The guilt is what really kills; guilt of not DESERVING LOVE, guilt of not BEING NORMAL, and also the guilt of not having a REAL REASON to feel depressed. How should you help alleviate this guilt? Try doing something for them that THEY want to do. Go see that movie they mentioned, just because. Grab a bite to eat somewhere they like. Try to bend a little to what they want, what they feel comfortable with, and ease them into new situations. Let them see that what THEY want to do has merit, isn’t weird or strange, and that they can smile without feeling like they aren’t deserving of it. Start small, don’t expect big changes, and don’t expect this whole new person. Put value into what they love, even if they won’t admit they love it, which they won’t because they won’t feel as if they deserve to, but they need to know that it’s all OKAY. Depression takes away the feeling that who we are matters, and breaks us down until we believe we did nothing but waste the time of others, and we need to end that wastefulness ASAP.

Be patient, be kind, remind people how much they matter, how much they mean to the world. Sure, they may not believe you at first (and they won’t) but just hearing it gives pause, gets the gears turning, and for a few precious  moments someone can escape from depression and feel as if the world isn’t crashing down around them. A few more moments like that, and suddenly your head is above water more often than under, and you realize that sure, maybe I can’t breathe underwater like the rest of the fish, but holy shit I can swim!


The Daily Adventures of Taylor Finn! Day 9 – “If nothing else, at least you are consistent with your bullshit”

8/29/2018 – It’s a cloudy mess outside this office window, but even so the August humidity refuses to let up. The heat on the other side of that glass is enough to distort a few inches of air sitting atop the parking lot pavement, burning out the cracks that run through that blacktop, stripping them of their usual collection of weeds, leaving only spotty yellow lines to break up the otherwise charcoal landscape. The dry air is turning my body into glass. My legs, my hands, even my hair feels like it’s turning into uncooked spaghetti. With such a brittle body, it should come as no surprise that this Summer has been another record year for me.

That’s right! This summer I have managed to surpass all of my previous 27 summers of being alive to reach a new level! I’ve finally broken the 200 barrier! I’m in the +200 club! Hooray! I knew all those years ignoring my running shoes and eating nothing but flaming hot Cheetos would eventually earn me this amazing feat of human perseverance!

If you haven’t guessed yet, when I’m talking about reaching the next level, I am referring to the effect of Earth’s gravity on my person. More specifically, I am calculating the impact of the Earth’s gravitational pull in relation to my mass. The result is a number recorded using a unit of weight under the system of imperial units, the preferred system of the United States of America.

What I’m trying to say is, HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS, I WEIGH OVER 200 POUNDS, also known in my family as “a metric fuck ton”.

I’m not surprised, but I want to be surprised. This has been creeping up on me ever since I graduated from college. My life, while not exactly active before, has turned into a game where I see how long I can go without breaking a sweat. I’m stuck in a swivel chair for 8-9 hours in my corner cubicle, where my only movement comes from typing in numbers, clicking on other numbers, and the occasional trip to take a shit while getting paid. It’s the epitome of the American dream, honestly. Heart attacks in my early 40’s and type 2 diabetes, here I come!

But really, I am a solid 205. What the fuck. Why in the fuck do I weigh over 200 pounds? When did I let this fucking happen? That’s rhetorical, as I already explained that above, but I still struggle to comprehend. I know I was letting myself go, but this is a whole other level of giving up. This is being so inactive that I am actively digging myself an early grave.

It’s disgusting.

I’m disgusting.  

I seriously need some change, or the next time I have a mental breakdown, my body will break too, and then it will be to late… or maybe that’s what I really want…to have no way to climb back up… maybe I just want everything permanently…



The Daily Adventures of Taylor Finn! Day 4 – “Who says you can’t survive on only ramen and vanilla coke?”

8/24/2018 – Today marks a major milestone in my life as a hermit; I’ve managed to survive 3 solid months without setting foot inside a store/restaurant. Between ordering all my dry/canned goods through Amazon (I abuse my Prime membership) and using only drive-thru windows for my fast food addiction, I’ve avoided having to stand in front of another human and speak/interact with them. Now, this hasn’t been a completely anti-social affair, not at all. I’d like to think those drive-thru workers love me, since I speak so calm and clearly. I know my local Pizza Hut is a huge fan of my ordering prowess. I always call fully prepared with my order, and I order often enough for most of their staff to recognize my voice. The delivery drivers enjoy my habit of majorly over-tipping (I worked in enough restaurants to feel guilty if I don’t leave an amazing tip) and they tell me I am the nicest customer they have. I’d like to believe they are telling the truth, because I put a ton of effort into sounding nice when ordering food. I know I’m just a stranger to these people, but I like to have a big smile, and say please and thank you, and try to get them to smile back. I feel like I can do this from the comfort of my car, and I know I can do this over the phone, and I somehow manage for the minute or two of interaction with my delivery driver. However, I cannot handle any more face to face interaction then that, so things like banter with the wait staff, or shooting the breeze with a cashier, are neigh impossible tasks.

All jokes aside, I want to make a greater effort to interact with people. I’m moving into my apartment tomorrow, and I should see it as a fresh start, a chance to be more outgoing, like I was back in college. It’s crazy to think just 5 years ago I was doing Improv shows and acting in plays, being on a big stage and acting like a fool in front of hundreds of people. Of course, it always felt easy doing those things because I was playing a part, living through a character I was portraying. I was always a shy, awkward human, I was just good at acting like I wasn’t. Maybe that’s what I need to do now, just find the character I want to be, study up on my lines and stage directions, and put on a show. It might not be me to begin with, but after some time, who knows? Maybe that’s how all confident people get by, just acting the part until the act becomes more than an act. It’s at least a starting point, which gives me something versus the nothing I’m currently working with.

I guess the only thing left to do is decide on what sort of character I want to play. Sauvé and sexy isn’t something I can pull off, no matter how much practice I put into rehearsal. I’m already seen as the nerdy one everywhere I go, so maybe I should play off that image? I could work on becoming the “cool nerd”, putting my encyclopedic knowledge of sports, pop music, and TV/Film to good use, while dialing back my expository habits when it comes to Anime, comics and Microsoft Excel. I can start to chime in during my co-workers talks about the upcoming NFL season, seeing as how I spend hours every night pouring over every bit of news from preseason games and training camps. I could offer my opinions on how the MLB playoffs will shake out, since I love baseball and have an intimate knowledge of every AL team (and also the Braves). I can sing along with any song played on any radio station, be it rap, rock, metal, pop or hip hop. Nobody knows my music tastes span all genres, most likely due to my insistence on listening to sad, depressing, beautiful tunes while working (Julien Baker, I love you so much).

The point is, I have a solid base to work with. I have interests that match up with people I see every day, I just have to learn how to join in the conversation. That’s been my problem for the past 5 years, so I’m sure I must be close to a real breakthrough.

Well, either a breakthrough, or another mental breakdown. I’ll just have to roll the dice and hope for the best.






