southern california guy Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) Last week at work, during lunch, my friend told me about a suicide. There's a spring shop we take our trucks to when we break a leaf spring. After Christmas when they returned to the shop they found one of their employee's hanging inside the shop. If I had to guess I'd guess that it involved a relationship. Maybe a breakup with a girlfriend or wife? But the pain get's intensified by this time of year doesn't it? Emotions are intensified. Is it almost like the feeling that you've been left out? In college I had a friend Chris who told me -- when we were alone together in a lab -- that he had almost committed suicide over a rejection by a girl in High School. And he told me that he'd "..found something better." (homosexuality) Was he protecting himself emotionally? What if she'd accepted him rather than rejected him? I like to write and I find myself writing about relationships. The story can be about football, or whatever, but the heart of the story always involves the characters and their personal relationships. And I've found that if I give the main characters Christian morals underneath all of their weaknesses and screwups and failures -- that people absolutely love them. And it's always best if I allude to the morality rather than ever coming out and saying anything directly. I go back and rewrite things so that the preachyness is gone and the story improves tenfold. But something funny seems to happen. As I get myself more and more emotionally entrenched in the story I'm writing I start to feel pain over the fact that I'm still single. When I post on the internet people e-mail me and write "Please! please! keep the story going!". But I end up quitting it seems.. And here's the funny thing, I feel more pain over the women I liked -- but failed to date -- than any of the women I ever dated but was eventually rejected by. It's almost like deep down I've hanging onto a fantasy of what could have been.. I don't know if I'm making any sense but it's almost like Christmas and the holidays (Valentines?) are full of unfulfilled expectations -- kind of like a romance that never happened. What do you guys think? Edited January 2, 2011 by southern california guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Don't overlook smaller influences. There is less daylight around Christmas than anytime of the year. People tend to eat more than usual, and typically of the less healthy variety. They also tend to drink more alcohol. Sugar, alcohol, and darkness all can lead to depression. There are more financial pressures, especially when you have kids. You also tend to miss people who have passed away more intensely around the holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sternhauser Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 [quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1293929279' post='2195802'] Sugar, alcohol, and darkness all can lead to depression. [/quote] Or coconut rum. Mmm. Coconut rum. ~Sternhauser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern california guy Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 [quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1293929279' post='2195802'] Don't overlook smaller influences. There is less daylight around Christmas than anytime of the year. People tend to eat more than usual, and typically of the less healthy variety. They also tend to drink more alcohol. Sugar, alcohol, and darkness all can lead to depression. There are more financial pressures, especially when you have kids. You also tend to miss people who have passed away more intensely around the holidays. [/quote] I myself was a bit depressed this Christmas, but I have no question about why. I ate a fish "tv dinner" -- that I don't think I cooked enough -- Thursday before Christmas. About an hour after eating it I became VERY sick -- shaking, fever, stomach cramps, and all of the other good stuff that goes with food poisoning. I was up all night trying to get through it. And wow was I ever depressed! But I knew why. The next day I went to my parents house when I felt strong enough. And after rest and eating better my mood totally changed. When I was a truck driver and I'd get really tired, it would depress me. I know that people view "sleeping too much" as a sign of depression. But I think that sometimes we need it -- to avoid or get over 'depression'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern california guy Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Any thoughts on this sort of thing? I'm back in my writing mode playing around with the emotional aspects of a story I'm writing. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sternhauser Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 [quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1294002615' post='2195954'] Any thoughts on this sort of thing? I'm back in my writing mode playing around with the emotional aspects of a story I'm writing. What do you guys think? [/quote] "Life [i]is[/i] pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." It ain't called a Vale of Tears for nothin'. ~Sternhauser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 [quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1293930233' post='2195809'] I myself was a bit depressed this Christmas, but I have no question about why. I ate a fish "tv dinner" -- that I don't think I cooked enough -- Thursday before Christmas. About an hour after eating it I became VERY sick -- shaking, fever, stomach cramps, and all of the other good stuff that goes with food poisoning. [/quote] 24-48 hours to manifest. Your fish dinner didn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socrates Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 I think it's the incessant playing of such musical "masterpieces" as Paul McCartney's "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime" in public establishments. Can drive anyone to suicidal despair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 big crosby should be required listening during the Christmas season. actually bing, frank, and louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socrates Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 [quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1294004888' post='2195971'] big crosby should be required listening during the Christmas season. actually bing, frank, and louis. [/quote] Bing is the man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sternhauser Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 [quote name='Winchester' timestamp='1294003218' post='2195960'] 24-48 hours to manifest. Your fish dinner didn't do it. [/quote] The grease could have. I was fine. I had the chicken. ~Sternhauser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolmom Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/suicide.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern california guy Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) [quote name='homeschoolmom' timestamp='1294006409' post='2195983'] http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/suicide.asp [/quote] Your link claims that there is no higher suicide rate during the holidays than the rest of the year. I tried to find graphs that showed the suicide rate by month but strangely I couldn't find a single one. About the only thing I could find was that Utah and some of the states around it have the highest suicide in the country. I would have thought that the midwest around the Great Lakes would be higher -- but it looks like the suicide is actually low there. [img]http://img.medscape.com/pi/emed/ckb/psychiatry/285911-1335299-288598-1620273.jpg[/img] [img]http://http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Suicide_by_region,_white_men.png[/img] Edited January 3, 2011 by southern california guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern california guy Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 Here's a graph from Australia, but I still can't find one from the US.. [img]http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/38/12/26.1/embed/graphic-1.gif[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolmom Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 [quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1294012384' post='2196000'] I would have thought that the midwest around the Great Lakes would be higher -- but it looks like the suicide is actually low there. [/quote] Why would you think that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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