Hello everyone

@Shacam

First of all and most important a very big warm and friendly welcome to 7 cups! You are very welcome here. You can be apart of our lovely community where you can relate to many people in your situation. You never have to feel alone here.

Secondly, you have taken a huge step already by expressing your thoughts and opening up here, that shows your are strong and you should feel proud of yourself for reaching out! That's a really big move!

Thirdly, please introduce yourself to our chat rooms, if you feel ready to do this, here is where you can express your feelings and meet new people who all support each other in the most positive incredibly way. We also have a great bunch of listeners where you can chat 1-1.

I hope you enjoy your experience here! I wish you luck, and thank you for being brave and opening up here! This is just the start for you 😊

Hi Shacam,

Welcome to 7 Cups of Tea! :) I'm so glad you decided to check us out.

Before I go on to what this site has to offer for you, I wanted to let you know I have depression as well and I have experienced what you so eloquently described. There are many people here who feel just like you and I, and I hope you are able to take something from this experience and meet people who you can connect with. If you ever feel like you've hit a brick wall and/or have a question about the site, I am often in the Depression Support Room (the one that says Member Chat below it, there are two Depression Support Rooms). If you can't find me in the chat, feel free to reply to this topic and tag me. You can tag me by writing @ValentineLove and I'll get a notification and hop on over here asap.

Now, onto what this site has to offer!

One of the things I love about this site is the versatile nature of it. You can find the following here:

♥ Forums (which you've found) - There are some great and inspiring topics you can participate in such as:

- Uplifting Quotes and Inspiring Thoughts (https://www.7cups.com/forum/QuestionsFeedbackIdeasFun_33/Funandrelaxation_91/UpliftingquotesInspiringThoughts_402/1/)

- I am Proud of myself because... (https://www.7cups.com/forum/MemberSupport_32/ProudofMyselfBecause_178/IamProudofmyselfbecausecomplete_5502/1/)

- The Song for Today (https://www.7cups.com/forum/QuestionsFeedbackIdeasFun_33/Funandrelaxation_91/TheSongforToday_3646/1/)

- What Made You Smile Today? (https://www.7cups.com/forum/MemberSupport_32/GeneralEntries_39/WhatMadeYouSmileToday_17019/1/)

Or you can use it like you did with this topic to reach out to others whenever you feel like it. :)

♥ 10 Different Group Support Chat Rooms - The chat rooms are a great place to speak live with other members like yourself and speak to others who understand what it is you're going through. You can find them by going to the "Chats" tab or by clicking on this link and then clicking on the Group Support tab. (https://www.7cups.com/member/connect/conversation.php)

♥ Guided Discussions - There are several Guided Discussions that are run by Listeners and/or Moderators every day. If you're looking for something a bit more structured than the Group Chats then I recommend sitting in on one of these. I enjoy them immensely. You can view the schedule for the Discussions by viewing the Community Calendar (https://www.7cups.com/member/communitycalendar.php) . Keep in mind, I believe the last I heard it was a bit buggy but they're working on fixing it ASAP.

♥ 1-on-1 - The 1-on-1 chats are when you need something a bit more personalized and need 1-on-1 attention. Keep in mind, just like with Therapy, it may take a few times before you find someone you really connect with. The important part is to not be discouraged if that doesn't happen at first. You can connect to a Listener by clicking on the "Chats" tab up or by clicking this link (https://www.7cups.com/member/connect/conversation.php) If you would like to Browse the Listeners and pick one for yourself, you can click on the Browse Listeners tab up above or click on this link (https://www.7cups.com/BrowseListeners/). You can also post in the Classified section of the forums (https://www.7cups.com/forum/CLASSIFIEDS_94/) and that allows Listeners to reach out to you if that's what you would prefer.

♥ Self Help Guides - 7 Cups also offers 21 different Self Help Guides. Here's the one for Depression since that's what you mentioned you felt you were currently facing: (https://www.7cups.com/depression-help-online/)

Hope this helped! I came here looking for someone to speak to once upon a time and just never left! It's a fantastic site with fantastic people and I hope you will soon feel the same way about it. Good luck to you on this journey and I hope you're able to find the answers you seek and the peace you deserve. ♥

I hope you find that peace as well Shacam! Welcome!