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"I have no value. I'm feeling worthless. I AM worthless"
Have you ever had these thoughts?
Have you ever said to yourself, "I feel worthless?"
We don't always like admitting that we have, but if we're being honest, we all have had these negative thoughts.
But where do these thoughts come from?
And how can a person slip into the darkness of feeling worthless so easily?
I'm going to quickly address these questions, and then help you see the bright side of the darkness.
By the way, if you think you're dealing with major depression, I encourage you to learn about the symptoms, as described by the Mayo Clinic.
What to Do When You Feel Worthless and Ask, "Am I Worthless?" (2 Questions to Understand Your Mental Health + Emotions)
By now, I'm sure you're beyond to know how to not feel worthless.
While there is no one-size fits all solution to get you to stop saying, "I am a worthless person," there are two questions that can point you in the right direction,.
Question 1 - Where do these negative thoughts and feelings of worthlessness come from?
A lot of places, actually.
They could emerge from hidden feelings of guilt.
Maybe they are related to an ongoing medical condition that has been weighing you down.
They even can come from childhood trauma.
What you need to remember is this: there's no one easy answer.
But the reality is this: we all have these dark thoughts as part of us--they just don't always come to the surface.
Carl Jung called it our Shadow Self, and I think that's a great starting point.
You're not a bad person if you have bad thoughts. That would be like getting mad at yourself for having an arm or leg attached to your body.
And the next question:
Question 2 - How can a person slip into the no-worth darkness so easily?
For me, it happens when I'm feeling stretched too thin. Or when I'm feeling pushed into a corner.
Either of these circumstances has a crushing--or size-limiting--effect.
I believe our natural state is more of the one we had when we were children--vibrant and full of life. Ready to explore the world and take in whatever it is we see and feel.
When the world gets to be too much, we find ourselves diminished, and the darkness surrounds what is normally our full and vibrant self.
Finding the Bright Side of Life Again When Saying, "I Am Worthless!" or "I Feel Worthless!" (Confronting Symptoms of Depression)
Finding the bright side again is no easy task, especially if you've been shrouded in darkness for a while.
But it's there.
You're not worthless. You're not.
Negative feelings may actually be a symptom of depression even if you don't meet the criteria for a depression diagnosis.
Remember, you can feel worthless and not actually have clinical depression.
But that doesn't mean your current mental health condition is any less valid.
Feelings of worthlessness can take many shapes.
The same applies to how you respond to your feelings.
So if you're ready to stop asking yourself, "Why do I feel worthless?" or "Why am I so worthless?," then keep reading.
Rather than give you a list of steps, here's an illustrative story about something I'm going through that had me feeling worthless
My wife and I found out about two weeks ago that our condo is being sold out from under us. The landlord is not a bad person--he's actually very kind--but he's had one heck of a year during this pandemic and he needs to sell quickly.
So now we're forced to find a new place in a community with a .8% vacancy rate. During a pandemic.
It's extremely stressful, and we're both feeling worthless and overwhelmed as we struggle to find stability.
But there is a bright side.
For us, it's in our connections, both in the relationship we have with each other and the relationships we have with others.
We know we have no hope of finding an apartment in the traditional way.
So we showed our vulnerability to our connections, both personal and professional, and asked for help.
And their desire to help has given us a precious few leads that might actually work out.
That desire to help is bringing the light back in for both of us.
What I'm saying is this: when we felt we had no hope in this situation, we had to reach out to others who could help, who had access to situations that we didn't.
There's no rule stating that you have to be entirely responsible for addressing your mental health concerns and bringing light back into your life.
After all, it was the wise Rumi that said:
"The wound is the place where the light enters you."
And:
"What you seek is seeking you."
