
Tattoo Artists Dish On Customers Who Bailed In The Middle Of Their Tattoos
[rebelmouse-image 18360750 is_animated_gif=Body art has become very popular and more mainstream than in the past. But getting a tattoo still involves a mechanized needle puncturing the skin and injecting ink into the dermis or second layer of skin just below the epidermis.
As expected, being poked over and over with a needle hurts.
Reddit user Semperspy asked "Tattoo artists of reddit: Has anyone ever chickened out mid-tattoo? How do you handle this?"
Here are the war stories from tattoo artists and recipients of their artwork.
Brush it Off
[rebelmouse-image 18360751 is_animated_gif=My friend in high school went to go get a tattoo to celebrate graduating, and she got the first line drawn. Couldn't handle the pain very well and also had doubts about getting one at all.
So now she has what looks like a hair on her shoulder blade.
What's the T?
[rebelmouse-image 18360752 is_animated_gif=Didn't chicken out, but aged 13 we dared each other to give ourselves tattoos. I went with a cross on my calf. Ran out of ink most of the way through, so, over 30 years later, still have T on my calf.
Bad Dream
[rebelmouse-image 18360753 is_animated_gif=My tattoo artist told me a story about how he was doing a pretty large piece on one of his clients, and the guy fell asleep about 1/3 of the way in.
When the guy woke up, he freaked out and had no recollection of what was happening - he stopped the tattoo right there, and from what I hear, it's never been finished.
Long Day
[rebelmouse-image 18360754 is_animated_gif=Was getting a piece on my side continued since the first appointment was getting the outline done, and asked the guy to stop about an hour before the shop closed. I was booked in for the whole day and had been getting work done for about 4.5-5 hours (11am to 4:30pm, including a break) and about ten-fifteen minutes before stopping the artist said "We've done a lot more than I expected to today, so if you feel like you've had enough that's completely fine".
Leafy Greens
[rebelmouse-image 18360755 is_animated_gif=I only saw someone leave with a half finished tattoo once. I worked in a state where it was legal to tattoo minors with parental consent, and our shop policy left it up to the discretion of the artist. There were two who were generally okay with it as long as the tattoo wasn't vulgar or drug-related and could be covered easily. So a 16 year old comes in from out of state with her mom and wants a fern leaf on her upper rib cage. The person at the desk warns her that it can be a tender spot, but she insists that's where she wants it. Okay. Five minutes in, she starts sniffling. Five minutes later, it's escalated to full blown sobbing. Her mom was trying to talk her down and the artist was trying to push through it, but she ended up tapping out with like a third of a leaf on her. She said she was going to come back and finish it later, but she never did while I was working there.
Alcohol & Ink Don't Mix
[rebelmouse-image 18360756 is_animated_gif=I have tattoos into the double figures, I also got my first ones very early - which made my impressionable friends want to also get them.
The day before one of my friends got their very first tattoo, I spoke to them and advised them not to drink that night, since it thins the blood & also to make sure they have something to eat the next morning and take some Lucozade with them. As blood sugar dropping during tattooing was fairly common.
They went out and got drunk & went to the tattooist without having any breakfast, without taking a sugary drink with them. I went along with him because I was getting tattooed immediately afterwards.
The tattooist stuck the needle in his arm & blood poured out, my friend went white & had to take an almost immediate break. He was immediately offered a sugary drink. However it took a good 20-30 minutes before he was ready to continue & almost quit immediately.
Primal Screams
[rebelmouse-image 18360757 is_animated_gif=I was really nervous when I got my first tattoo, so the artist did a quick dot just to show me what it felt like. After that I was good. Once it was all done and I was at the counter paying he told me a story about when he'd been working for a few months and this girl brought her friend into the shop. The friend wanted a butterfly tattoo on her ankle. The girl was like, "she's got a low pain tolerance, but I think she can handle it."
He said once the needle touched her skin she started screaming bloody murder. He stopped, she said, "no it's ok, sorry keep going" and then started screaming again. She was so loud that an employee of the coffee shop next door came over to make sure no one was getting murdered or anything.
She wouldn't stop screaming so eventually the artist was like, "sorry, I can't do this" and kicked them out.
So now whenever he finds out it's someone's first tattoo, he always does that first tiny dot and if they freak out (which he said hasn't happened since) he'll refuse to do the tattoo.
It's Not Easy Being Green
[rebelmouse-image 18360758 is_animated_gif=My aunt has a green circle on her buttock because she chickened out almost immediately after starting. Luckily it can be mostly hidden even in swimwear.
Artist Tap-Out
[rebelmouse-image 18360759 is_animated_gif=I didn't chicken out but my tattoo artist did.
I was torn between two similar designs. I decided to go for the smaller one, see how it felt and go back to have it expanded if I wanted to swap to the larger design.
Went back and the shop had gone out of business.
Naval Exercises
[rebelmouse-image 18356156 is_animated_gif=I got some ink when I graduated from A School in the Navy. Went out with a few friends. Mine was pretty simple and small. It's a caduceus that tapers into an anchor at the bottom with my enlistment date (I later had my FMF badge added and eventually my discharge date).
Wasn't too bad.
My buddy decided he wanted his whole calf done with this incredibly elaborate (expensive) design that would have like this sea goblin rising up from waves.
the guy was bragging about this tat for weeks leading up to it. After about five or so minutes the crying became audible and he noped out officially at around the 10 minute mark. The artist got part of the outline for the sea goblin thing, so he was left with this outline that looked somewhat like the figure in Munch's The Scream.
Excessive Force
[rebelmouse-image 18360760 is_animated_gif=Coming from the flip-side of this as someone who left in the middle of the tattoo:
My tattoo artist decided to get into a shouting match with his boss, and was bearing down HARD on my foot with the tattoo gun. I told him to get off me and that I was done.
He handled it by saying I was a wuss (my foot was bleeding and it was my fifth tattoo, had never bled before) and then backpedaled and asked when I'd be coming back to "finish his vision."
I had paid in advance and just never went back. Still have scarring.
Gimme a K
[rebelmouse-image 18360761 is_animated_gif=Not a tattoo artist, but my grandfather got a tattoo of my grandmother's name on his arm years ago. He backed out when the tattoo artist got halfway through her name.
My grandmother's name is Kim.
Design Change
[rebelmouse-image 18360762 is_animated_gif=Not a tattoo artist but I chickened out. I've got a tattoo on my belly all the way to my sternum. I scheduled 4- 4hour sessions to complete it. In the middle of the third session I told the artist to make it looked finished because I wouldn't be back for a while. It hurt so much and was so tender that I just couldn't take it anymore. It looks good. It was designed to be mostly black with a few highlights of color but it's just black and I'm ok with that.
Young and Foolish
[rebelmouse-image 18360763 is_animated_gif=When we were both 14, my friends mom let my friend get a tattoo, but he immediately chickened out, so he ended up with this 1cm long black line on his shoulder.
Tickle Your Ribs
[rebelmouse-image 18360764 is_animated_gif=I got my tattoo done and had no idea what I was in for. My rib piece is the largest tattoo on my body and was the most painful. I only sat through half of the color and waited almost 2 years to get the other half colored in.
Location, Location, Location
[rebelmouse-image 18360765 is_animated_gif=I was doing a tattoo of the letter g with tiny wings on a 30 something guys pelvis right above his member. I had to shave him and everything. I did one little curve of one tiny point of the wing and he makes me stop. It was a $60 tattoo so it was tiny to begin with.
I thought he was getting the g wing tattoo cause his last name started with that letter. Nope it was a tribute to his recently dead son. To be hidden by hair once it grew back in.
He realized as the sound and pain set in that he was probably making a bad decision. Awkward. Nowhere at all did he even mention it was a child memorial tattoo. I would have immediately counseled for a better spot for it. So we stopped and he paid 60 bucks for a squiggle.
Unisom
[rebelmouse-image 18360766 is_animated_gif=I'm not a tattoo artist, but I am 80% covered. I've seen some interesting things in the tattoo shops I've gone to. There was a guy who wanted his entire back done in one session, well...after some convincing the tattoo artist tells the client, "Lets just bang out the outline. That can take up a good chunk of day..." The guy ok'ed the idea. Leaves to grab a soda and some food(it's a bad idea to get tattooed on an empty stomach). Guy falls asleep mid tattoo, this is pretty common for people to doze off. The artist decides he wants to take a break and stretch. The client isn't waking up. The tattoo artist and a few other people in the shop have to really rustle this dude. After the guy wakes up people ask if he feels like he passed out, the dude didn't look like he was pale or super sweaty like someone who has fainted would look. The client goes and tells everyone he took a sleep aid because he wanted to get as much done and not punk out.
Start Small
[rebelmouse-image 18345022 is_animated_gif=From what my tattoo artist friend says it's pretty common for guys to think they have to act all tough and get it done in one go despite warnings, only to chicken out part way through due to the pain, especially in more sensitive areas. It's rarer for people to completely chicken out and be left with a permanently unfinished tattoo though. He has had a few people decide they want a smaller design part way though as they can't stand the pain. He usually tries to start in a place where he can still leave them with something decent if they back out, for example he had a woman ask for a fairy surrounded by flowers on her arm, she backed out shortly after he started but luckily he had started with the flowers so she was left with three small flowers on her arm that looked alright on their own.
In the Nick of Time
[rebelmouse-image 18360767 is_animated_gif=Guy I knew was getting a tattoo of his fiance's name with some design around it, artist was doing the designs first and when he got to the name, guy answered his phone and just started sobbing and told the artist to stop.
Turns out, his brother called him from their house and saw the fiance doing the deed with a mutual friend.
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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