yeah, i kind of wish there was a 'rules for life' guide that talked about this.

to me, it's a paradox -- the time when you most need help, you are least likely to seek it out -- or, it's the most difficult to seek it out, because you are down / depressed / whatever.

then it spirals, etc. etc.

i figure, the best you can do sometimes is break it down into baby steps -- the usual advice for getting big things done.

e.g.

  - find out the name of the college counselor folks
  - read a bit, call them, get appointment
  - go to appointment
  - sit down and say "i need help"
  - go from there.

so, one of the 'rules for life' rules would say something like:

  * recognize when things are going in a bad direction, spiraling, and even if you don't feel completely helpless or depressed or whatever, you _must_ go get help - it's what you owe to the universe or your family or etc. Get help from a parent, friend, other family member, doctor, psychologist / phychiatrist / counselor, teacher, professor, acquaintance, stranger, etc. the idea is to act _before_ things get too out of hand. and, if, after you've talked to someone, everything is fine and you get back on track, if it seems like it was a false alarm, great - get back to living a meaningful life. and if not, at least now you're getting some help. you did the most difficult thing which was to reach out for assistance or help. in a perfect world, someone would always be right next to you to help you and push/pull you in the right direction whenever you needed help, but sometimes you have to help yourself, and you did that, and that's a great thing.

a bit over the top maybe, but eh -- that's what i think the message should be.

and if you're young, you can rest easy in knowing that you can ** up your life like 100 times and eventually you start to realize, oh, it wasn't actually that big of a deal. :-D

by the time you get to 40 or so, you realize how much ** goes wrong in peoples' lives, and a lot of times, people just keep on going.

that's not to deny real hardship, but something like a failed class, semester, degree, etc. -- in the big scheme of things, it starts looking _real_ insignficant.

myself, i half-failed out, worked full time, back to school, finished, etc.

my only problem now is i decided to be a not-so-good entrepreneur -- don't be like me -- be a good entrepreneur, instead. ;-D