# 2004 - My best year



## GavinD (Aug 10, 2004)

Hello everybody. So today is the last day of 2004 and I wanted to just share with everybody why this has been the greatest year of my life. It might seem strange to those of you who are suffering with DP/DR and cant see how life can ever be great again....but I'm living proof that it can be. Not because I've recovered from it, because I haven't...I still suffer from DR 24/7 and DP whenver I'm really tired, which is most of the time. But what I've come to realise this year is that good things can still happen in life, that life goes on despite my suffering and that I dont need to totally 'feel' experience to appreciate the beauty of it.
I know why it's been easy for me to become so positive this year and that's because fate has been so favourable to me. I met a girl, my soulmate and fell in love....that gave me more meaning to my life than I'd had in years. I've travelled further than I ever have done in my life (Hawai'i)...for the past few years the furthest I'd been is London once or twice, but I'd hardly left Brighton. In Hawai'i, Sleepy and I got up to real adventures, real memorable stuff, the kind of stuff you dont do every day. I've also got around this country more and done things..I went to silverstone to see the british grand prix...went on a national tv gameshow and won it! Then after well over a year of not working I got an excellent job working in a school as a teaching assistant, which I love. And now, unlike last year, I'm ending 2004 not just with good memories to look back on, but good plans to look forward to.
So a lot of what has made this year great has been good fortune, but a lot of it has also been my desire to live again and not let this illness drag me down. I know now that wallowing can never do anything but make matters worse....there's just no way it can do any good. So if you're ending this year feeling a bit hopeless cause you think DP/DR is the end of happiness, think again....

I lived 21 years of my life DP/DR free, not knowing any mentall illness at all...and then i have lived 5 years of my life with this illness. And my favourite year has been with it....so having this illness doesnt mean life comes to an end. There's hope for all of you if you dont give up on the chance of happiness.

Happy New Year to you all and lots of love
Gavin


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

Really happy for you, Gavin. You and Sleepy - aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh how sweet!

This year has been the worst AND the best of my life. Thank you everyone here for all the advice, in particular Janine. Keep plodding on guys. Its definitely worth it.

Happy New Year xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2004)

Good Luck Bro


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2004)

Hooray! This has been the second worst year of my life. First was when my parents concieved me...big mistake.


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2004)

You da man Gav. THAT was an uplifting post.


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## falling_free (Nov 3, 2004)

happy to hear you had a good year, just proves that dp/dr doesn't mean the end of your life,

im sure i'll get to a point again where I don't feedepressed and anxious, old light at the end of the tunell cliches etc etc


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## sleepingbeauty (Aug 18, 2004)

i promise this new year will be even better. :wink:


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## GavinD (Aug 10, 2004)

thanks for your replies guys, I'm glad you found it uplifting.

Falling free, I'm totally sure you will get over it....when i was at my worst I thought there was no way back, but then occasionally I would have these spells of feeling much more positive....like little pockets of calm in the storm. And then once i knew that the suffering wasn't going to be constant, the suffering itself decreased. Just keep telling yourself that this suffering isn't permanant, CAN'T be permanant and you will fare a lot better. It's a long road and effort can often feel futile in the present moment, but the way you think now affects the way you feel in the future. Good luck.

Gav.


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## falling_free (Nov 3, 2004)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, much appericiated


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## terri* (Aug 17, 2004)

Gavin you are so right when you write about living with dp/dr. There really is life after all the hysteria, depression, trying or not trying meds, grieving over loss of self and on and on and on.

Be ready to accept it people. There can be life with this damn disorder!

Gavin, Homeskooled, Wendy...tons of people doing things which consist of getting on with life even if it is thru a fog and not like before. What it is is now. I hope everyone is able to go in to this year with a sense of life and living in this moment.

Best wishes and so happy for you, Gavin.
terri


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