Hi cagz. I stopped by the newcomers for an old friend who was back in a new difficult situation and decided to see what was happening on MLC. And with you, now I see.
There is no question that the farther you get away from all the nonsense the healthier you get. Here's what I found for me. There was a period where I was trying new things to see what fit. I read a ton of books looking to help define myself. Eventually I stopped trying to figure who I was and what I wanted and decided to take things one day at a time. I decided to be thankful for the blessing that I did have in my life. A funny thing happened. I found peace. And along the way, I started to enjoy the things I had always enjoyed such as making more trips to my hometown to visit friends and family, taking a class or two a year, reading for pleasure (if you can call reading economics for pleasure). It doesn't happen all at once. But you take things one step at a time and eventually everything falls into place. And you keep finding that something else that you enjoy. For example, my sons are now 18 and 15. At some point, they will go off to college and I will replace the time with them with something else even though I don't know what that something else will be.
Hang in there. Love yourself. Give yourself a break. Perhaps stop trying so hard. I found the less I tried, the easier things became. When you take things one day at a time, it may amaze you to find out that the answers actually find you.
