“I Cannot Babysit Your Depression!”

When you are told your illness is not your partner’s concern.

Over the years, I have written several articles on depression and mental health. My sphere of expertise is professionally limited but valid: I taught at-risk children and adults for over 10 years, up until 2005, and my prerequisite course load included nearly three years of coursework in Abnormal Psychology.

Further, and more importantly to my mind, personal experience has lent me some unique perspectives ...

My dating life was a reflection of my insecurities at the time: a pattern of co-dependent relationships that were doomed to fail. I was an aspiring writer with no recognizable means of security in that line of work, who taught special education because he needed to pay the bills.

The fact that I found my teaching experience highly rewarding and in some ways life-altering was unexpected, and welcome. I believe I left the field a better man, thanks to my students. I’ve certainly never forgotten them, nor my jobs.

But neither have I forgotten my original goals, which was to be a paid writer.