Hi
@Fluffy,
I'm sorry about the difficult position you've been in. You've definitely had great feedback from others, and ultimately you know your life circumstances well enough to make an informed decision. I also hope the bleeding isn't a serious complication.
I would like to share some thoughts and experiences with you that I hope you might consider in case they could help you live a better life. I think a big part of your lesson plan is learning to let go of the depression. And it is possible, no matter how much the thoughts and memories may tell you otherwise. It may be helpful to ask yourself, "If I didn't have depression, what would I want my life to look like?"
I've never experienced a pregnancy or raised children, but I've experienced depression to varying degrees of severity for most of my life and can understand how you feel. I can also relate to some of the thoughts going through your head, like doubting myself a lot, thinking I'm too lazy or incapable of ever doing something useful, that I'm just too STS for things to get better, that I'm always going to be catching up to others and have nothing useful to say, that I've accepted I won't graduate to 4D because of how much I've screwed up my life, etc. etc. etc. And maybe I'd get short bursts of inspiration, that "Yes, I can do this, I can change my life!" and then the doubts would come in, I'd make mistakes, think I really can't do it and wonder why I thought I ever could with how my life has been.
I get the impression that you have been identifying with the depression; you think it is part of your identity by holding onto the label/diagnosis. Even if you're not currently experiencing an episode where you feel completely nonfunctional, the thought patterns are still there. And with how all these internet resources and psychologists view depression, that you won't get better unless you spend thousands of dollars on therapy, pills, hospitalization, electroconvulsive therapy, etc., and if they don't work then too bad, it's really hard not to think that you're just damaged and not going to get better.
In my case, I wasn't usually experiencing major depressive episodes. I could slog through life doing the bare minimum for others around me while still feeling like crap and thinking crap that this is just the way it is, that no one really understands, and that I just have to accept that I'll never feel happy because I have depression and it's a lifelong illness that won't get better. This was despite years of dietary changes, supplements, and seeking mental health resources. I've only been on antidepressants once after a suicide attempt when I was about 12, and all they did was numb me out for a bit, and in my late teens I decided I didn't want to get on the pill-popping train from all the side effects and testimonials from others saying the pills may or may not work.
I didn't start the slow process of getting out of that mindset until I read an article on SOTT some years ago that talked about how maybe we have misunderstood depression, that it is really a stress-based physical illness. And I apologize for not being able to find it, but I could relate to what it was saying, that my body is in a constant state of fight-flight-freeze, but mainly freeze. And when I paid attention to how my body felt, I could feel the tension and stiffness in my muscles and aches in my solar plexus and pressure around my head and body like I'm contracting inward when emotionally overwhelmed. And when I didn't pay attention to my body and just got wrapped up in the thoughts, the thoughts told me I felt dead inside, that I wasn't even a real person. Me not feeling happy wasn't just all in my head; I have a lot of stress stored up, and the thoughts exploit that!
Identifying with depression was the most disempowering thing I ever did to myself! Believing I could never get better or do anything useful because I'm cursed with the black dog of depression led me to not even try most of the time for years. What helped me start to get out of it was accepting that I feel all this stress in my body that others call depression, and that even though I may not experience positive emotions, I can still work with my body to do things for myself and others that help me live a relatively normal life. I don't need to feel good or happy to get chores done around the house, to be kind and helpful to others, to read and grow in knowledge, etc. And if I did feel that paralyzing feeling of "depression", I could focus on what my body was feeling, moving one finger at a time if necessary to gain momentum to get stuff done.
Now, why do I say "the thoughts" instead of "my thoughts"? Although I could accept that the depression was very physical, I still couldn't let go of identifying with the thoughts when they came up, usually after some emotional trigger. I thought it was me telling myself all these bad things and bringing up all the bad memories that "prove" I suck and that I'll never get better. And it's very easy to believe that when the thoughts use your inner voice and your traumatic memories.
I've recently started to let go of the idea that most thoughts that go through my head are my own. This idea has been discussed on the forum as the Negative Introject or the Predator's Mind, and learning about that has been helpful to many, but they didn't go far enough for me. The thoughts would twist the ideas around, like, "But it's still MY negative introject/predator's mind, it comes from MY narcissistic parents and trauma and wounding and genetics," and I would still identify with the thoughts and not be able to break out of highly emotionally charged ruminations. I needed to put more distance between myself and the thoughts, and have done so by working with the idea that these thoughts come from spirit attachments (as discussed in the
Knowledge and Being videos) or even 4D STS entities looking for a snack. And when you've identified with depression for so long, you probably have a nice feeding tube for those hyperdimensional critters!
And how insidious it is of them to use your voice and your memories! And how clever their arguments are! A common recommendation is to just challenge the bad thoughts and they'll weaken over time. That did not work for me. In my worst ruminations, it's like talking to a demon straight out of
Hostage to the Devil: they will always find a counterargument to convince you that you suck and are just a burden on others while draining your energy.
I have found it best to not directly engage the thoughts, to say, "This is definitely not me," and to focus on the sensations in my body to detach from the thoughts. Some folks suggest doing pipe breathing and reciting the POTS until they go away, which has worked great for some, but if I'm stuck in a rumination and forget to do that, then just focusing on my body, no matter how shallow my breathing is, helps disengage from that.
And an indirect way to challenge these thoughts is to use that momentum you build by focusing on your body to get stuff done. You prove to yourself that you're not useless by brushing your teeth, smiling and acting polite to others (even if you don't feel happy), washing all the dirty dishes, decluttering the crap you've been looking at for several months, etc., depending on where you're at in life. Improving even 1% a day will have a big impact on your life and will lead you to a better future.
Another great tool in the toolbox comes from an
Interview with Mel Robbins that Laura posted a few days ago. I highly recommend you watch the whole talk; she's a very engaging speaker! Robbins opens by saying motivation is garbage, and that you'll never feel like getting the things done that you know you want to get done because of how our brains are hardwired. It happens to everyone, not just folks experiencing depression. In her case, she struggled with anxiety and postnatal depression, and her life was going nowhere.
She decided to try out what she thought was a stupid idea: NASA is in her bedroom, and with the countdown of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, she'd launch herself out of bed without giving herself time to think about it. And it worked. Counting down with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 interrupts a part of the brain associated with hesitation and doubt and forces you to engage the prefrontal cortex to make decisions. She went from being anxious and unemployed and unable to get out of bed to becoming a CNN commentator and motivational speaker with a much better family life. And the tool has helped many others gradually improve their lives, too.
By no means do I feel "cured" or "normal" or full of vibrant Disney princess energy since taking these steps. It's all still a work in progress; I still feel a lot of tension in my body, and make mistakes and not get as much done as I'd like to. But I'm doing much better now than when I identified with the depression and let all the limiting thoughts and emotions take control of my life.
So, I hope some of that might help you in your life. And I apologize if I had misunderstood or made any incorrect assumptions about you when writing that. The last thing I want to do is make you feel worse. I wish you all the best and hope everything will work out.
And do keep sharing on the forum. We all need to stay connected to each other through networking, and I think by sharing we are sending a signal to the universe and to ourselves that we do want to improve and that we do have faith in the process and the universe.