| «The summer of 2003, after the mania and during the depression, like,
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| I tried to do, I mean, I was still in school
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| But I tried to do some part-time work, and, it wasn’t happening
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| It was too, overwhelming
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| 'Cause that’s one of the major things with depression that I’ve experienced
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| It’s just this really crippling sense of being overwhelmed
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| By things that aren’t even my responsibility
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| Like, I remember driving with my mom places and we’d be going to the grocery
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| store or something, and we’d drive by a construction site, and suddenly I would
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| just feel crushed by the, the thought of having to go to this construction site!
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| It’s like, why? |
| It’s not even my responsibility
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| And so, actually having any responsibility was out of the question
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| So that summer, for sure, I could not work
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| But after the hospitalization, following the suicide attempt, from that point
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| forward, I’ve been able to work pretty consistently
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| But the upside of being very upfront with my, my bosses and my supervisors has
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| been that, I mean, 'cause there have been times where I’ve had to say, 'Hey,
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| I need to manage, like, some hypomania
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| So, I’m gonna take this day off because I have to take this medication,
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| and because of this medication, I won’t be able to work this day.'
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| Um, so you know, kind of like managing any other medical issue; |
| do this and that
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| With depression, a lot of times I’ll tell my employers, 'I'm having a tough
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| time right now.'
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| It doesn’t usually impair my ability to work, but it affects me and I have to
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| be honest with them about what’s going on» |