{"id":836,"date":"2016-07-15T23:10:06","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T04:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faceitv2.wpengine.com\/?page_id=836"},"modified":"2016-07-18T13:24:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T18:24:00","slug":"mark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.faceitfoundation.org\/about-face-it-foundation\/success-stories\/mark\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

My name is Mark and I have been married for 10 years. I have two children who are active, loving, and just amazing kids. I work as a design director in an interactive marketing and technology capacity. My hobbies include music, especially playing guitar, writing songs, and singing. In 2015, I performed at Alive at the Market<\/a>, a fundraiser for\u00a0 Face It. This performance was a true milestone for me in light of the very severe depression I dealt with.<\/p>\n

As I look back on the depression I was experiencing, I can now see that I was under a tremendous amount of stress. That really tipped me over the edge. I had a big job with a great deal of responsibility, we were moving to a bigger house in a new neighborhood, and we had some financial stress associated with that.<\/p>\n

All of these challenges became so overwhelming that I was literally unable to function. All my thinking turned negative and the only thing I could see in myself was that I was a failure. I viewed myself as the head of the household and it was my responsibility to provide for the whole family and keep everything running smoothly. Clearly I was failing, or so I thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I had tied up my entire identity in my work, and it was only through achievement at work that I was able to find any sense of self-esteem. As you can imagine, as my depression deepened, my ability to perform at work lessened. This lead to an even darker time in my life.<\/p>\n

As my depression worsened, so did my thoughts of suicide. I had a couple of trips to the hospital. At that time, I felt paralyzed by my depression and I couldn\u2019t make any decisions for myself. So I let others make them. The problem was that I had too many people making decisions for me, and these people weren\u2019t all on the same page. This compounded my stress level.<\/p>\n

As I sat in the hospital, I was riddled with shame and guilt. I was sure that others would view me as weak and incapable. I assumed my professional career was over and that I would never be a trusted colleague again. This was a truly dark time in my life.<\/p>\n

After being discharged from the hospital, I attended not one but two<\/em> Face It groups. The fog of my depression started to lift. When I shared my story with the other guys from Face It, I came to realize that I am not the only man who has struggled.<\/p>\n

I began to develop other tools to help myself, such as journaling and reading some self-help books around shame and negative thinking. I started to focus on my marriage. Together, my wife and I learned some valuable lessons about each other. I put my career in perspective and learned that there are other important things in my life, such as my kids!<\/p>\n

Today my life looks completely different. I have learned to surround myself with true friends who can be with me in the good times and the tough times. I have six factors I try to stay conscious of: sleep, diet, exercise, involvement with my friends\/\u201ctribe\u201d, actively challenging myself and learning, and focusing on positive and purposeful activities every day of my life. A keen focus on those things makes me feel more empowered and in control of the irrationality and confusion that ensues when stress, anxiety, and other challenges enter my life.<\/p>\n

Depression is rather common, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not really hard. It\u2019s important to know you aren\u2019t alone. I returned from a very dark place to a fulfilling and productive life. Other guys can, too.<\/p>\n

Learn about the support offerings<\/u> <\/a><\/em>that have helped Mark and many other men recover from depression.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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