Illuminate

Share any other websites of yours that are not fansites or shrines.
Forum rules
The usual guidelines in Constructive Criticism apply, and you have the option to flag your topic as "Sweet".
Robin
Events Staffer
Posts: 3072
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:15 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA
Contact:

Illuminate

Post by Robin »

Image

After a good two or three months of real work, I finally completed my depression information site, Illuminate!

Check it out and let me know what you think--I have suffered depression several times and am empathetic toward depression sufferers as a result, but I also wanted to create an informative site for non-sufferers as well.
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
withinmyworld.org
Lethe
Posts: 1342
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Lethe »

Thank you for sharing something so personal, and for making your own site on a topic of such importance. You wrote of your personal experience in such great detail - I can't imagine reliving all those painful years being an easy thing to do...

I fought depression on a daily basis throughout adolescence and found little to no understanding or support in my immediate environment (only from the internet), which quite reflects our elementary school experiences of institutions and people we are supposed to look up to dismissing the concerns of children to mask their own helplessness and incapability of handling serious situations adequately - at the expensive of their protégés' mental well-being and growth. It's harsh to be repeatedly told to just "get it together" and not "stress out over little things" by those you trust, especially family, and it's worse when they're doing so while brushing over their responsibility even though their intervention could greatly help you.

It's important to me that you stress throughout the site that there need not be a cause to depression, that depression is not your fault and that it does not make you weak - not just as a message to those who don't know what depression feels like, but may be close to someone who is depressed, but also for the ones suffering from depression, especially perfectionists and those looking to please others.

I love how you offer a list of links not primarily of (external) help sites, but to people and communities writing about their depressions; sometimes, it's not (just) help that you seek (for example because you are not ready for it yet, or because the help you're receiving is not adequate in some way), but understanding from people in similar situations - that feeling of not being alone in the darkness.

May I say I'm slightly surprised at the lack of mention of
a) immersing yourself in creative endeavours and
b) how much relief and confidence is gained with the realization that the path you've been walking for the longest time may not be what truly makes you happy
on your "further help" page? XD It's probably because you intentionally kept that page so brief, but from reading your personal experiences, those two elements just stood out to me (also as someone who made it through thanks to those two things).

By the way, the "Other Illnesses" page is wrongly linked in the sub-navigation!
Both despair and ecstasy are part of the elements that compose a person.
Robin
Events Staffer
Posts: 3072
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:15 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Robin »

@Lethe: thank you! It's good to hear that the site is approachable and accurate for other depression sufferers (not just me)--that had been a worry of mine.

As for adding notes about surviving depression using creative endeavors, I can honestly say I got swept up in the research-heavy bits of my site and forgot allllll about it. Lololol! (this is what happens when you're ADHD and make a website at 3am XD)

I was actually thinking I could expand the "further help" page into a full-blown section, but last night I could not remember any other sub pages I wanted to make. The creative page was one of them, though--do you think it would be worth dividing that page up into separate pages, or just add a bit about creative activities on the existing "further help" page?
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
withinmyworld.org
Lethe
Posts: 1342
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Lethe »

lol I can imagine that happening!

I'd LOVE for that part to be an entire section of its own, especially because right now, it's, in a way, striking how much shorter it is than the in-depth section when it's no less important (though I understand that part of it IS merged with the in-depth section - the myths and truths page in particular). There'd be many other things to talk about, including self-care in depression (not tied to the "goal" of overcoming it) and how to recognize and drown out negative and harmful thoughts. Even the bit you have about how to interact or support someone with depression can be a page of its own.

And of course a whole page for creativity alone! :star:
Both despair and ecstasy are part of the elements that compose a person.
Robin
Events Staffer
Posts: 3072
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:15 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Robin »

YAY! I can definitely do that ^_^

and now I have a .txt file in my depression site folder with all these glorious ideas, waiting for me to work on them ~~
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
withinmyworld.org
Robin
Events Staffer
Posts: 3072
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:15 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Robin »

EEEE so I finally beefed up the Further Help page, turning it into a section with four fairly involved pages! WOO!!

Hopefully this covers everything I missed on the first go-round ^_^ look through it and let me know!
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
withinmyworld.org
Lethe
Posts: 1342
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Lethe »

It's lovely, especially the detail in the self-care part! (I remember I started keeping a log of my daily activities during depression, like, drinking water, making meals, shopping groceries, etc. and I wasn't so keen on the idea of keeping a log as suggested at first, but it really is important to see what you manage to accomplish and look at it from the right perspective.) I'm really glad you expanded this section! :star:
Both despair and ecstasy are part of the elements that compose a person.
Robin
Events Staffer
Posts: 3072
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:15 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Robin »

Yay! (I'm glad it's more fleshed out now :D )

The log idea is a good one, too--kinda like a diary but kinda not. Never thought of that ^_^
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
withinmyworld.org
Crystal
Posts: 2320
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:02 pm
Location: Alberta Canada
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Crystal »

I thank you for sharing something so personal Robin. I read through it and could relate to quite a bit of it. While I didn't have depression per se (I have technically been diagnosed with it but I don't believe it) I did have trouble in school. I was really quiet in class and didn't answer whenever a teacher asked me a question (I remember one year in junior high my home ec teacher said she never heard/saw me laugh). In elementary school it was recommended that my sister and I be put on medication for ADD or ADHD or whatever (I can't remember what anymore). Only recently did I really learn that I am an introvert and even more recently than that I have learned I have a learning disability involving my working memory and processing speed. I wish I would have known this years sooner so that maybe I could have gotten the help I needed and maybe have even graduated from high school. :(

It seems like if you don't fit into this tiny mold of what society thinks you need to be changed so you can be like them. :/ Little do they know it does not work. As the saying goes you can't fit a square peg into a round hole.
There are shadows before us - but only because the light is at our back.
Robin
Events Staffer
Posts: 3072
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:15 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA
Contact:

Re: Illuminate

Post by Robin »

@Crystal: I can sympathize! The public school systems in many areas are just not equipped to deal with all the differences in learning styles/abilities among children...well, either that or they just don't want the added hassle. Plus, as you've experienced, standardized education leads to standardized psychological treatment, which usually means throwing pills at the kids instead of actually solving the problem or giving the kids coping skills, and--arrrrrrgh. It leads to lots of kids thinking they're stupid when they're not, etc. :/

Ugh...education needs to be reformed soooooo bad. >_< Education programs tell prospective teachers all about "teaching the whole child" and then school systems IRL don't want to deal with what that entails. And they end up with kids like us who need more than they're willing to give.

[/steps down off soapbox] lol I could probably make a whole 'nother website about this ish xD
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
withinmyworld.org
Post Reply