Guy Devastated After Racist GF Dumps Him, "Can't See Herself With Black Guy Longterm"
But why be racist, when you could just not be racist? Sadly, the country doesn't seem to grasp that ideal tradeoff. We have a tragedy on our hands. u/Allentow laid it out for us:
My (23m) girlfriend (20f) of 2 years broke up with me because she didn't "see herself with a black guy long term." I'm so messed up over this and can't get my stuff together. What can I do here?
Obviously i'm black, GF is white. We met in college and I've since graduated and have a really good job. I was with my GF for just over 2 years.
Over the past few weeks she's been acting strange and finally this weekend she broke up with me. To me it came out of the blue because on labor day I took her on a vacation to Florida and I don't remember the exact words but she told me something like "I want to do stuff like this with you forever."
So she broke up with me Sunday. I did my best to just chill and get over it but I broke down early this morning and called her and asked her what the hell was really going on. She said she didn't want to tell me so I kept pressing her and finally she said "the truth is I love you so much but I never saw myself with a black guy long term." This was devastating because I can work on other sh*t, but I can't change who I am.
I still love her so much it f*cking hurts and my heart is literally breaking and I've called into work the last two days and missed two huge commissions, now my boss is threatening to write me up and that could mean getting fired.
This sh*t is ruining my life.
What can I do about this? Is there any way to convince her that her thinking is racist and she's wrong and that we can be together?
Here was some of the advice he got.
One
You probably won't believe this now, but this is a fantastic turn of events.
You're a young man, lots of life and potential partners out there who aren't just f---ing around with you like some taboo fling.
One day you will be with a woman who accepts you as you and you will smile thinking about the bullet you dodged.
Two
These are things i should have done before to hasten the moving on process:
- Exercise - like regularly going to the gym. Even if your mind and body doesn't want to. Even if your mind is telling me to stay in bed and get wallowed in to the sadness you feel. Go to the gym!
- Make a list of all the things you don't like about her or the moments where she didn't treat you right - your mind is your worst enemy now. You're going through changes that your mind have not coped yet. It's like being addicted to something then you suddenly stop and going through withdrawals. You'll relive your "happy" memories in your mind just to have its fix. Recognize these moments and read through your list.
- Occupy your mind - study more or get a job. The less your mind gets to wonder, the better.
Three
If she's that narrow minded she can't see past skin color, there's nothing you can do but honestly, do you want somebody who is like that in your life? Go to work, see your friends, pick up hobbies, try not to think about her. That's all you can do and you'll meet a girl who doesn't think twice about your skin color and is in love with everything underneath it. I really feel for you.
Four
I'm going to be a little blunt here. I'm a parent and this is what I would say to my own son if this happened to him.
Relationships can be very messy and complicated at times. You still have to live your life. Sitting home and breaking down isn't going to help you. Work will actually be a good distraction for you. Keeping busy will be good for you right now. Please do not miss any more work over this or get fired. That would just make your life so much worse.
You cannot ever really convince ANYONE to be with you. If this is how she feels deep down, thank goodness she told you so that you can see what kind of person she is, and move on with your life. You should NEVER try to convince someone to be with you.
If she never meant to be with you long term, she could have stated that up front, but obviously never did - for 2 years. You obviously love each other, but what she told you would be pretty unacceptable to me going forward. How would you ever honestly trust her intentions again??
Breakups can hurt very badly, but you are clearly an adult and need to handle it like one. That means, mourn the relationship but continue your life in as positive a way as you can muster. Get up every day, go to work, and try to keep yourself healthy and active.
Five
I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you. As a white woman dating a black man, this really hits home. I've been in a situation where a black guy I was dating didn't want to be serious with me because he thought his black friends would judge him for dating a white woman. That sh*t hurt deep and on a tremendous personal level.
My current partner (black) sure does get looks for dating a white woman and the occasional comment. And so do I, but reversed...But... race has never been an issue between us. Racism doesn't belong in a relationship... hell... it doesn't belong ever!
Don't try to convince her that the reason for breaking up with you are racist. She knows... because she IS racist. Why would you want to date someone who is racist? Racism comes in different levels and dosages. From crazy aggressive outward attacks to subtle micro aggression that can fly under the radar for a while.
Again, I'm so sorry for you to be in this position. She rejected you not for who you are, but for what you are. You will never be able to change this. It is out of your control. Nor should you ever need or want to change what and who you are. And certainly not for her.
Stay proud of your heritage, culture and reflection in the mirror. You are beautiful and an amazing person to date. This is totally her loss. Don't try to get back with her... and deep down you know that ultimately you don't want to date a racist. Keep your head up my friend!
Six
At that young age, it would have been rare that any thing long term would have developed.
Maybe she got freaked out about thinking about "long term" because she is 20 years old, not even old enough to drink and she is has to think about the rest of her life?
Yeah, I'm black too and Ive been with women who love me then leave me because a interracial relationship does come with some bullsh*t from other people. I was really hurt by it too, but then I saw that relationships end for many different reasons. The only thing they have in common is the hurt of a lover of the past.
Don't sweat the racial component of the relationship, you can't change that and she wasn't going to be able to hang with it long term. Better now than a divorce 5-7 years from now.
And don't let this color your future relationships, this was her problem, your next GF doesn't deserve to be punished for her mistakes.
Seven
Bruh. She ain't the one. I can only imagine the hurt you feel. But day by day, little by little, you will get over it. Thankfully you didn't have kids or anything else to permanently tie you. Even if her reason is not the truth the only thing that matters is she doesn't want you long term. So in the meantime take time to yourself. Enjoy time with family and friends. Don't rush to replace her. Grieve the relationship. Mourn for the person you thought she was. Enjoy the little things in life. Eventually you will wake up one day and not have a thought of her. And you will smile. Best wishes.
Eight
From one black man to another (I'm in my late 30s), what I'm about to say is going to sound rough, but it's true.
You're 23. You've spent your entire life thus far going to school and college, where all your fellow peers are constantly being told to treat people fairly and kindly. Now that you've finished college and entered the work force, what happened to you is the start of the "real world." It's going to be a shock.
Life is only going to get tougher from here.
When you apply for an apartment, but there's 10 other people who are also interested, most of them white maybe an asian person, who do you think the manager will rent it to? Be honest.
When you go to a job interview, and they have 5 other equally qualified candidates who are white, you are at the bottom of their choices no matter how impressive your resume is. They'll find any reason to not hire you even if you're the best possible person for the job.
This is only the beginning of a massive sh*t storm that's going to last until the day you die. So you have to develop a tougher skin than this.
I was also in a relationship with a white woman, and I think she genuinely loved me too, but she was under a lot of pressure, and my ethnicity was too much of a liability to her. She was worried about what her parents would say, how her family would react, and what her co-workers and friends might think of her. She didn't leave me because she was just a dumb a** racist who wanted a fling with a Black guy but had zero genuine feelings about me. No, not her. She was beautiful and had a kind heart. However, she couldn't handle the potential stigma that the rest of society and her family would assign her. THAT'S WHEN IT HURTS THE MOST. But yes, I know what it's like to be dumped by a loved one because I am Black. I am not mad at her. I still love her and still think about the years we were together. I hope she is safe, happy, and has what she wants in life. Maybe one day, in the future decades from now, she will be in contact with me again.
Being angry... or hating white people, or hating yourself for being Black, or hating how society is so f---ing racist... is really not going to help. It will consume you. Just like how you see all the poor white people who live in trailers and bitterly blame Black people for all their life's problems, etc... That's what racism turns people into. Don't let it do that to you.
Break ups suck, especially yours. Hold your head up, soldier through this, and be prepared because it's probably going to happen again. And again. And again. Even if you date a Black woman, it can still happen, and THAT would be so bad it takes racism to a whole new level. But there are people out there who will treat you fairly and give you a chance. You will notice them eventually. Keep those people in mind, not the racist sh*theads.
Nine
It is really up to her to think over and deal with - likely that no external intervention will change her feelings. Too bad she didn't signal you earlier.
To me this stuff is often linked to geography. Through the years I (white guy) have had serious relations with two Black women - very little static but most of that coming from Black guys when we would go out to eat or whatever. But we lived where mixed race couples were very common. The ladies and their families were fine with me. I ended up married to an Asian which in some places can be weird. In Hawaii for example it seems most everyone is coupled with a different race person. But in the US South I got stupid stuff like "oh - so you're screwing the maid?"
Point being that maybe a geographic change would help her, but from your post it seems too late for any adjustment. I hope that you can use it as a tough lesson learned if you fail to resurrect it. Check people out early in relationships to be sure that you can proceed "on the same page."
Ten
Give yourself the rest of the day to mourn your relationship and the future you imagined. When you go to bed tonight though you are done just mourning. Sunday when you wake up you are now moving on. Clean your house, go hang out with friends, whatever chores, errands or fun stuff that needs to be done - it doesn't matter how you feel do it anyway.
Monday you go to work. Again it does not matter how you feel. Put on your work face and get sh*t done. If you need to cry it can be done after work.
You're only allowed to fall apart at home after work and everything else is checked off the to-do list. You will get through this. You will have a great life. You can do this.
And there are just as many grievances for which we are not at all sorry.
Curious to hear about people's track record of their questionable behavior, Redditor NanoPKx asked:
"What is something bad you have done with no regrets?"
Is it petty theft or flat out stealing? You decide.
The Parting Gift
"'Forgetting' to bring back a company ipad after they forgot about me having it. Actually they never asked for it back so I still have it and use it."
– Koetjeka
Furry Companion
"I stole a barn kitten while delivering packages for FedEx. He kept climbing my legs and getting into the van, sitting under the wheel when I tried to back out (it was a steep driveway, no way to swing the van around). I called the number on the package, looked the name up on facebook, called the local non-emergency to get contact info, all failed."
"So I took him. Now, if you're not from a rural environment, you might not understand that barn cats like that are 'no-man's-cats.' For all the owners know, he got sick or got got by a coyote. And he would have died, because when we got him to the vet he had a nasty upper resp infection and some other nasties."
"Now, one deformed nasal passage and the cutest snore later, we have a bonkers little orange cat with the heaviest penchant for snuggling I've ever seen (his name is Monty btw)."
"Edit: I forgot to pay my Cat Tax: https://imgur.com/a/HIXS4us"
"Edit Part 2: Monty loves the attention. Thank you for loving him as much as we do :3"
"MmmmMMMMRrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW" -Montgomerey Valentine, 2022
– SonOfSkinDealer
The Dirty Treat
"A housemate of mine kept eating mine and my girlfriends food and even though I asked him to stop the only thing he would ever say is 'I thought it was mine' then keep eating it."
"Well I bought my girlfriend some ice cream she really enjoys and she put the half she didn’t finish back in the freezer. Well when she want to get the rest it was gone and it made me madder than I think it probably should have."
"The very next time I saw him and somehow keeping a straight apologetic face I told him how he accidentally ate our sex ice cream and that bits of it had been on our parts etc. I told him I felt guilty not to tell him and that I had to apologise for him to eat such a thing."
"I will never forget the face he made when I told him. A face of pure self disgust and shock to which all he had to say was 'I wish you never told me that' and proceeded to move out around a month later."
"Although he didn’t actually eat sex ice cream, like why the f'k would you put it back after use anyway? Sometimes I wonder if I went to far but in that moment I just did not care at all. He still doesn’t know it isn’t true and I’ll probably never see him again."
"F'k you Vitas buy your own food."
– SpicyDolphin74
Vengeance is sweet.
Payback Time
"A drunk driver hit my parked car, left a huge dent in the front driver’s side door, and then drove away. I happened to be looking out the window at the time and saw the whole thing, including his plate number. Cops got there not long after and took my statement. After a couple days and a couple phone calls, I found out nothing was going to come of it because he was the son of the sheriff the next county over."
"Fast forward a couple months, I see his car parked behind a local bar within walking distance of my apartment. I got out my hunting knife and sliced all four of his tires, and made a couple trips around it destroying the paint job. Yellow Pontiac Sunfire, and I still remember the goddamn plate number even after almost 20 years."
– IgnoreMe304
For The People
"I was a GM for a retailer that was going out of business. During the liquidation I let my employees that worked until the end store product they wanted to buy in a closet I claimed I didn't have a key to. Oh the final days I sold them all the items they requested for 95% off. 70" tvs, ipads, gaming laptops whatever they requested."
– Midnights606
Surreptitious Swap
"Years ago I worked for a wealthy dude who was married to someone semi-famous. He would waltz in every morning and talk about the fantastic dinner he had the night before, how he hung out with some other famous person or whatever else."
"He paid me peanuts. I had a hard time making ends meet."
"I was the office assistant and IT guy. So it comes time to get a new computer for one of the designers. I spec something out, and show it to him. It was a ripper of a machine for the time (early 2000s). But it wasn’t expensive enough for bossman."
"So I added a really high end graphics card. Boss was happy then. The card added nothing for the designer: they only did illustrator and photoshop."
"So I came in that weekend and swapped the graphics card for my aging one from home."
"No one ever knew. Or cared. And I got a new graphics card."
– Dudeinairport
When times are tough, people had to do what it took to survive.
T.P. Crisis
"In college I was so poor I would steal toilet paper from the supply closet in our major building."
– Business_Loquat5658
Hungry College Buddy
"I stood watch for a college friend who was going hungry because he’d been disowned and his roommates had made living with him intolerable after he came out."
"I was loosely affiliated with an off campus program with local churches that gave free student dinners on Thursdays. We would go to church to eat, then bring dishes into the kitchen."
"Anyway, he would go in there and steal stuff like peanut butter, literal bread (not an allegory), granola bars etc. while I watched out for the pastor."
"Eventually we both got caught, the pastor for the college students got a bit mad because he was responsible for us while we were there to eat. And I think it was offensive on some level to steal from church. But then he saw what my friend was taking, and asked him if he had enough to eat. My friend shamefacedly said no, not usually."
“'Okay, fine. Put the food back, and come with me.' Took my friend grocery shopping instead, got him connected with the food pantry and community garden at church instead."
– SchnarchendeSchwein
Based on these examples, people didn't twice about their actions in the heat of the moment.
Within reason, we all gotta somehow get by.
But do you think their actions deserve punishment?
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When a person sees someone they care about going through a struggle or crisis, their instinct is to uplift them with positive advice.
But sometimes, the wisdom imparted by friends isn't always helpful or relevant to the situation.
Curious to hear from strangers online who could do without specific knowledge, Redditor Saibotnl1 asked:
"What life advice can just f'k off?"

These Redditors have a problem with how certain people have on outlook on life.
Time To Rest
"Sleep when you’re dead."
"Cool, but you’re going to be dead a lot sooner."
– Tag2graff
Irrelevant Sadness
"People have it so much worse than you so don’t be sad!"
– notrachelmar
"To that I like to say, 'people have it so much better than you so don't be happy!'"
– ___jupiter____
Your Life Path
"Almost anything relating to what age you must be in order to buy a house, have children, marry, have a profession, or do anything else. Seriously, everyone's life is different from everyone else's. Make your life the way you want it to be. If you so desire. Up to you."
– Frn071
On The Contrary
“Cheaters never prosper”
"Yes, they f'king do."
– waqasnaseem07
People can get out of any situation they find displeasing.
But others feel people should just "stick it out."
Ignoring Bullies
"Just ignore bullys or get someone else to handle it for you. I have never seen this work, only makes it worse. The only effective way I've seen to deal with them is by not making yourself an easy target and make them scared to f'k with you again. If going psycho on their a** is the only thing they'll respond to that's their fault. Also want to add in schools they will punish you for self defense but that punishment is only sitting around a few hours in detention or sitting around at home with a suspension. The punishment is temporary boredom, it's absolutely nothing compared to being bullied and when it's over the important message will still stand that you will not tolerate being a victim."
– User Delted
Remain to be Miserable
"Stick it out"
"Whether that's sh**ty jobs, shi**y relationships, shi**y living situations..."
"By all means don't just give up on things when you face challenges, but if something feels wrong or is wrecking your peace then take some control and change it if you can!"
– petitezoey
"Easy for you to say," might be an auto-response to these suggestions for many people.
Invitation For Recklesslessness
"Live like everyday was your last"
Yall know what people do when they learn they have a single day left to live?"
– LimeGrass619
A Possible Consequence
"I did that as a teenager and ended up homeless and addicted to heroin. Didn’t pan out for me too well."
"19 years sober though today."
– Open-Section-7263
A Practical Approach
"If I knew with certainty that I had one day left, I'd double-check all my financials, my will, and my insurance policies, make sure my wife had all of my passwords and knew where all the money was, spend the rest of the day with her and the kids, then call the medical examiner and ask to lie down on the gurney so that when I die they won't strain their back moving my remains out of my house."
– Asteriad
Nose Stuck In A Book
"Work while they sleep. Study while they party"
"That's not a recipe for success, that's a recipe for a lot of white hairs, burnout syndrome and a stroke before your 40s..."
– Khomuna
Doesn't Apply To Everyone
"Do what you love and money will follow"
"I love walking my dogs and grilling food for my friends but That sh*t doesn't pay the bills as well as my engineering degree!"
– Elons_android
While people's intentions are good, they're better off keeping their two cents in their own pockets.
Not everyone likes to hear platitudes.
Sometimes, people just want to know they're not alone with their problems over listening to unlikely solutions that are nothing more than superficial pick-me-ups.
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Kids start going to school from the age of five, and for the most part, they spend more time at school than at home. Because of that, teachers can become very important figures in the lives of their students.
Some students don't have the best home lives. Some keep it to themselves, but others confide in their teachers.
Curious about various situations, Redditor Delicious_Mastodon83 asked:
"teachers of reddit what is the saddest thing you found out about a student?"
In Need of Parents
"Not a teacher but was a school-based therapist. Had a student (7 -8 y/o) I didn’t know knock on my office door and ask if I’d adopt her and “if you have room, my brother too, but if not, that’s ok, we can be split up. We’re split up now. And I don’t take up space. I just need a sleeping bag”. Broke my heart."
– secretkpr
Heartbreaking, But Industrious
"My mom taught at a school in a bad neighborhood in Chicago in the mid 90’s. There was a second grader that would save his milk and ketchup packers from lunch for his mom so she had something to eat when she got home from work."
– PowerstrokeMe
Big-Hearted Mom
"Not a teacher but a parent with a 9 year old son. Every day I pack extra in my sons lunch because he tells me he has a friend that never has anything to eat. It's winter and my son came home and told me his friend was turning up with shorts and shirt and holes in his shoes. So I sent in a jumper and long pants for him to wear and some slightly used but good condition shoes. I have been up to the school recently and the teacher pulled me aside and thanked me profusely for helping this child. Apparently teachers are not allowed to aid kids they teach here in Australia and they have already reported the issue 3 times to child welfare without results so I was the only one helping this child. The teacher told me before I started sending in more food and clothes, this child would steal others food from their lunches and look through the bins because he was so hungry. They doubt he gets fed at home. So now I make sure to always send an extra lunch and some school clothes/supplies when I can. I can only hope child welfare eventually does something but it breaks my heart."
– spetzie55
Amazing Big Sister
"It was right after winter break and before class started I was just talking with some students and asked if they got anything fun for the holidays. One girl said on no, I don’t ever get presents, my mom is a drug addict. But I went out and got some stuff for my little sister so that she can have a real Christmas."
"She just said it so matter-of-fact. She was so used to being the parent to her little sister that she didn’t even care about her own childhood. It totally broke my heart."
– tonydanzascaulk
The Importance Of Human Affection
"Second hand story from my mom, elementary teacher for 30ish years. She had a hug or a handshake out the door policy, just some small contact and a proper goodbye, and had this young boy who always picked the hug. She wondered why he always went for it, most kids would go back and forth depending on their mood that day, so she asked him why he was always so excited for the end of day hug? His answer, "It's the only one I ever get.""
– needsawholecroissant
Coming Out The Other Side
"Two teenage boys (16/14) with learning disabilities were on my caseload, they never missed school but often ditched class. They were homeless mid-year after they went home from school to find the locks changed, their Mom had abandoned them for a new boyfriend. She didn't leave an address for them to find her."
"*Edit: both eventually dropped out, however a couple of years later the younger brother came back to visit. He and his brother were both working construction, and his brother had gotten married, had a child, and was living with his wife’s family."
"The younger had roommates and was saving for a car. He told me it was a shame I didn’t have kids, because I would make a good Dad."
"People often persevere, even with the odds stacked against them."
– Kursch50
True Parentification
"Not me but my daughter is a teacher, she has lots of stories but one that stands out for me is one of her kindergarten kids saying she was tired and her asking why, the little girl explained that she had been up all night with her mums newborn baby. She did this every night, fed her bottles and everything."
– lb47513343
Luckily, He Was Resilient
"This year I had a 17 year old kid enroll at my school. He was sitting in my math class and I could tell he was struggling. After class I took some extra time to go over a concept with him. I asked him to read the question to me, and he sat there silently. He then looked at me and said “I’m not going to lie to you, I cannot read. I have no idea how to say these words""
"Turned out at age 17 he was illiterate and had been kept out of school by his very religious, controlling parents. Over the past few months he has worked very hard! Now he can finally read at an 8th grade level and he is STILL improving!!"
– User Deleted
A Heroic Teacher
"I worked in an inner city charter school. One of my students (`M10) had a sib (M8) in a lower grade. The mom was there every day in the beginning of the year encouraging them, helping them and generally being very supportive... until a CPS agent spoke to me asking about her behavior. After CPS left things went downhill. The boys showed up late to class even though they lived a half block away from school. When in school both boys were tired from sleeping in the car while their mom "went fishing". She also had two very young girls which she dragged around making the boys take care of them. One day the boys didn't show up and their teacher walked over to the house to find the mom had loaded up the fridge, paid the rent for the month and abandoned them. The teacher (a candidate for sainthood btw) took them in, adopted them and grew them up to be great men."
– mopedarmy
This is really heartbreaking stuff! Luckily, teachers aren't just another adult in your life; they can be your saving grace as well.
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TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains sensitive content about depression and mental health.
As the stigma around mental health lessens (however slowly), people are more forthcoming about the problems they are facing. One of the most common mental health issues is depression.
Depression can affect many different types of people. Factors such as gender, race, nationality, and even age have no bearing on whether someone suffers from depression or not.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, "...an estimated 3.8% of the population affected, including 5.0% among adults and 5.7% among adults older than 60 years..."
Depression displays in certain patterns, such as mood changes, physical difficulties, and social isolation. However, depression manifests differently in different people and feels different to different people.
Reddit users divulged what depression felt like to them when Redditor iodineseaspray asked:
"What does depression feel like to you?"
Some of this is sure to sound familiar.
The Worst Kind Of Boredom
"Like being more bored than you could imagine but also not wanting to do anything at all, even breathe. So you want to do something, but you can't imagine anything that you would like to do so you're just sort of stuck."
– BuddhistSlater
"So you then spend literally hours staring at a blank wall hating yourself, your life, and everything around you. Well, as much hate as you can summon in the absolutely mentally numb state you find yourself sat in day after day."
– merryman1
Lack Of Motivation and Energy
"Complete lack of motivation."
"Ignoring people that I love, and who are trying to help."
"Just sh*t"
– HatFromStraw
"I feel it extra at work. Letting things slide until you either get into trouble or trying last minute to prevent it."
"Funny those times when I'm working to save my butt, the depression goes away and i feel super focused and motivated."
"I try to carry that energy over but no, it's rinse and repeat."
– ExtraBitterSpecial
Powerful Insecurity
"Insecure about absolutely everything, no hope for the future, dissociation from society and not knowing how to “act” anymore, feeling like I’m not as good at the things I always thought I was good at or that the “talent is wasted on me”, only food cheers me up and sometimes even that doesn’t work"
– tenamonth
Loss Of Creativity
"This. It's like some numb fuzziness you feel in your brain. It's the worst thing ever for an artist who just wants to create but your brain comes up dry with a dense fog that wants to just lie down for a few hours"
– FinnProtoyeen
A Mental Inability To Breathe
"For me, it feels like I’m in a lake with a ball chain tied to my feet, desperately swimming up for air, the only problem is the chain isn’t long enough. I can only get an inch of my head out of the water to breath, and as soon as a high tide comes, the water just floods over me and I feel like I can’t breath again. I live like this, constantly feeling like I’m struggling to breathe, weighed down by my own mind. It’s a struggle and I can’t really describe it in any other way, I’m jealous of people who don’t worry about depression"
– DrowningInBrokeness
"Like suffocating under a heavy cloak"
– kmartfreak
"Like being crushed. Like if the air was crushing my muscles and bones and I can’t breathe because I’m being crushed…"
"Kinda like that."
– Afreshnewsketckbook
Listlessness
"Scrolling thru your steam library. Thinking you want to play something, either not settling on anything or not wanting to put the effort into the game. Going back to the scrolling."
– Aistadar
"It feels like you're forced to play a game of Monopoly (represents life) and your just rolling the dice to appease everyone but you genuinely don't care about where you go, where you land, what you pick up, what you pay, what you gain."
"You kind of just watch it happen without interest and while people are cheering or oh no-ing for you, you genuinely don't care. Everyone is a piece on this board that hardly matters and you feel like we're all just running in a circle over and over again and it's boring and disinteresting as hell."
"You lose all curiosity for everything and just let everything happen and pass by you. No motivation, hardly any love, hardly any care. Feels like the world is in black and white and your waiting for the game to end became it's so absolutely boring and disinteresting, but it never does."
"You come to resent the game and eventually hate it because it feels like you're being forced to play it and suffer it's consequences when you never asked to play it in the first place."
"That's what depression felt like for me. Since then I've been medicated and recieved therapy. I'm doing a lot better now and I don't feel this way anymore, thankfully."
- KnlghtLlghts
A Relation To Fantasy
"You know that scene in the Lord of the Rings where Bilbo is describing to Galndalf what having the Ring all those years felt like? "I feel thin. Like too much jam spread over too much bread." That's honestly the best way I've seen to describe it."
– Electrical_Age_336
"I always say the closest thing to compare it to is a dementor in harry potter. It sucks every ounce of happiness out of you until there is only darkness left."
"Side note: chocolate always helps"
– sunfacer
Fear Of Lack Of Justification
"Like someone close to you died yesterday. Expect no one has, and nothing has happened to justify how you feel."
– AlterEdward
A Physical Pain
"Physical pain in my heart, will start crying just by attending to the physical sensation in my body."
– sagieday
Help Yourself
"I've always described it as having a shadow fixed to your brain which fuels things like indecision and negativity. You can do things to temporarily help but you can't truly shift it. Previous normality is forgotten. But it's amazing how much you can mask it."
"I found I didn't realise how bad I was until I started to get better"
"For anyone suffering with depression. Please, please speak to someone. Best thing I ever did"
– DavosLostFingers
Depression isn't something you can just deal with or get over. Learning to cope is not easy. However, as Redditor DavosLostFingers pointed out, talking to someone can literally save your life.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression, contact the American Psychological Association by phone at 800.374.2721 or 202.336.5500.
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