Sex. Longest I gone without any sort of sex was 3 months. Had broken up with my first girlfriend after 4.5 years together. No jerking off, no fantasies, not even staring at a hot girl's boobs or ass for one second. Didn't get an erection for 3 months. Only time in my post puberty life that I had ZERO interest in sex whatsoever. Gotta be honest, it was kinda liberating.
Argument didn't make sense in light of him saying he doesn't go without sex often... but it made my lol anyway
Every single thing I once could never do without I now typically do without. I mean with regard to creature comforts. I do sleep (a little). I eat (a little). But those aren't comforts; they're things my body insists upon because my body insists upon surviving. I'm a manic depressive that is too high functioning to even be treated as such. There are no colors in my world. Even my mania is of the angry variety and not the happy one, so where many manic depressives miss their mania when it is taken from them by medicine I am grateful when it is gone. I am comforted by my girlfriend and by my dog and sometimes a song or a joke but more often than not whole months go by without me sincerely enjoying anything. I seek only calm as I live my life in one of two rather unpleasant states: paralyzing depression or murderous agitation. Creature comforts. That's a funny term to me anymore. I did once love drugs and alcohol but they always turn out wrong for me now so I can't mess with them. I mean except the kinds the doctors give me. And those have no euphoric or even pleasing effects. They are not pleasant; they are only to make things less unpleasant. And they accomplish that only by degrees.
Air conditioning. Being outdoors is nice as a temporary thing, but being able to control the temperature keeping it not-too-hot and yet not-too-cold is amazing.
Nothing. There was a time when I was really spoiled and couldn't do without my TV, my recliner, my A/C, a nice gym, nice comfortable bed with $2500 mattress, nice car with leather seats, etc.... then I went to live in Ukraine in a 1 bedroom apartment in the middle of winter for 4 months with no car. We walked to the grocery store and to restaurants in the snow, we walked or took public trans anywhere we went. Our bed was a couch that folded out. We had days where there was no hot water and we had days where the electricity went out for hours. I learned to live on less, I learned that I didn't need all this crap in my life, learned that I could function just fine without a car, without TV, without video games, and man I was really happy during those 4 months. That was real life. Most of the stuff we do here in America while zoned into our TV, Internet, and Video games keeps us in zombieland.
Reading these posts and talking **** is quite addicting. Lately, I've been playing less and less video games. Finding something cool or interesting online Anything that would result in 1st world problems. Sorry to hear that BJ. I hope you'll find a state you're comfortable enough to be in. Are there any support groups or meetings for people with similar afflictions?
Spicy noodles, tea (lemon), and movies/audiobooks. Can you imagine having to spend hours reading books, instead?
Thanks, Invisible Fan. And thanks to Yonkers too. There are groups I guess, but they would be filled with crazy people. And, as it was when I quit drinking, AA didn't do anything for me and I didn't really need it; I just quit. The difference here is that quitting would be 100% permanent and would make my friends and family cry. I also don't believe that people are honest in group therapy because it's much easier to be honest with one person you trust. I'm well studied on the subject (I've had to be) and, though the wicked, profit-driven, care-depriving insurance companies mean that I spend over 30% of my gross salary on halfway decent mental health care, I have found pretty much the least worst of many bad health care options. Even if do write tens of thousands of checks each year to shrinks and such. Also, you referred to my state as an affliction, which is understandable. But whether it is one or not, and whether I'd have it be different or not (and I'd love to feel the answers to both those questions would be yes), I just can't bring myself to think of it as an affliction. An affliction would be a flaw. I actually can't help thinking it's the rest of you that are afflicted (or suffering from a mass delusion). I would however trade anything to share in that delusion and be afflicted as the rest of you are. But I've hijacked. I didn't mean to and I apologize. It's just, when I see words like creature comforts, I can still remember having them. So I reply. But then I hijack and feel bad for hijacking. Let me try to compensate a bit by answering the OP in a somewhat less morbid manner. My dog. Times 10. He is a creature, he is a comfort, and I could not live without him. How long have I been without him? As long as a month. Right now I am away from him for a week (and away from my girlfriend for five days - she came on my trip for the first few days). I'm in NYC right now seeing one of my very best old friends play the lead in a Broadway play called Harvey. My friend also plays Sheldon on TV's The Big Bang Theory. Maybe you've heard of him. Before he was a mega-star, I directed him in 10 or 15 plays in Houston and he is possibly the kindest man on this planet. So seeing him on stage and then spending an hour in the dressing room after was a rare treat. And we'll get to hang some on Tuesday too as I'm here until Friday, just booked solid with meetings. That's another creature comfort I couldn't do without: friends. How long have I gone without them? I'd say I went without any at all (though I know so many people and have hundreds of serious friends around the country) for about six months when I moved to Albuquerque for the specific purpose of being somewhere where I knew absolutely no one.
I just moved to Sudan for a year, and if it wan't for the window A/C units, I think I would have gone crazy by now. Internet would be another, I use it for everything (Work, Contact with family, Tv, Movies, Music), without it I would lose it. A/C and fast internet, couldn't live without them.
Music. (is music a creature comfort?) Not to be overly dramatic here, but I literally don't know where I would be right now without music. It's totally shaped my life. Since jr high, it's given me something to hold on to when, often times, there was nothing else. It was the only thing I could say I was better at than most other people during my formative years. Wouldn't have gone to college if not for music. Maybe not even finished high school. Wouldn't have finished college and got my degree. Which means I wouldn't have the job I'm at now. Which means I wouldn't have met my wife. Which means I wouldn't have her and my boys. Pretty much everything good in my life now can ultimately be traced back to music. No way I could live without it.
I could exist with very minimal sustenance. I would not subject my family to this. Except gourmet popcorn. Talk about a value!
Cuddles from my children...especially now that my eldest daughter is going through chemotherapy, you tend to learn to cherish things a little more than before.
My 1956 Gretsch Electromatic My 1983 Fender Telecaster top-loader (with Lollar pickups) My 1988 Fender American Standard Telecaster (with a Burstbucker II in the neck) My 2003 Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe My 2004 Epiphone custom shop ES-175 (with Lollar pickups) My 1975 Guild A-25 My 2001 Kentucky "A" style mandolin My 1991 Fender Vibroverb reissue (with Weber signature series speakers) My 1961 Ampeg Jet (with Weber signature series speakers) My 1971 Fender Twin with 100 watt Celestion speakers and Groove Tubes :grin:
That's compelling, but wallowing in self pity won't score you brownie points with me. You are crippled by your knowledge of illness and what it is, not the illness itself. Change your diet. Leave the country and leave behind what you knew. Alburqeurce isn't far enough and still part of the cultural paradigm that drove you into a state of mania. These people want to drug you so you can be a functioning zombie, but maybe you were cut for something more. This is a vicuna shawl. It's a cut of cloth that puts cashmere, pashmina and silk to shame. Do you think a street rat who's sole purpose in life is finding his next meal in order to ensure his survival can appreciate the quality of the vicuna? No, because his self preservatory barriers limit what he can devote appreciation to. Maybe you're a vicuna in a cotton society. Maybe you're a piece of cotton in a vicuna society. This, along with diet, is what is responsible for mental debilitation. Don't relegate yourself to some diagnosis, completely destroy yourself and go beyond.
