I just want to share that i feel like a complete loser because i became schizophrenic (heard a voice in my head) a month before starting a really important job after graduating from college and 6 months later i lost that job, maybe partly because i was schizophrenic. Now, i only work part time at a job that pays very little compared to what i was earning at my first real job after college. Looking at people who i went to high school and college with, looking at their success - some of them now working high paid accounting jobs, others got their PhD, some went to law schools etc. Well, compared to them i just feel like i am a complete loser, and the fact that i moved in to live with my mother also adds to give me a bad perception of where i am at right now compared to people i went to high school and college with. Does anyone else feel like they are a failure compared to their classmates? Any ideas of how to overcome those thoughts?
I don’t know how to overcome those thoughts other than life is always changing and doesn’t stay the same forever but I can relate to you…
I feel like a ■■■■■■■ loser compared to people I knew. Although I completed my degree I don’t have a job and that just really gets me down because I’m so messed up right now idk how I could work and be stable.
You have a job and that’s good 
don’t let it get u down though cus ur in the right place with working and who knows maybe you’ll get an even better job in the future! It could be great!
Emily, what age were you when you became schizophrenic?
Yup. Consequently I’m not in contact with anyone I went to high school with bar one person.
I feel im more accomplished with my art than many and I’ve learned about my soul. I also see alotta jobs that people take for lotsa money are along the same lines as killing buffalo. So no i don’t compare … There are a few that im impressed with but many of them are plastic and im not impressed with it
ive accomplished more than some of the people i went to high school with,
do i think my mental illness has slowed me down? yes. but I’ve learned to cope and continue forward.
plus i dont hear voices anymore. but i have negative symptoms that come and go.
my willpower and drive to suceed is what keeps me going.
Yes I feel like I ruined my potential because I didn’t fight hard enough…I constantly hate myself for being too weak…constantly compare myself…of course it gets me nowhere.
Any ideas?
No, not yet…i might figure out sometimes. But at least you’re not alone. I know its a really awful feeling.
Not at all. Not at all…
i kinda feel same way too, but im trying to reframe my thoughts and think about the future and thngs im good at, instead of past and things i did wrong, you don’t become a looser cause you’ve got schizophrenia, because it’s an ilness not a choice, it would be same if you would say: im a looser because i forgot to take an umbrella with me and get wet… you don’t become a looser, because you forgot something, things happens, same with an ilness…
I am not the biggest Bible fan but I appreciate Ecclesiastes which points out that in the end we are all the same. We are all dead with our accomplishments no longer meaning a thing. If your high school friends have statues made for them pigeons will poop on them and kids will be annoyed that they’ll have to learn about someone who’s dead. However no matter how bad this disease treats you I think if you look hard enough you will find that you had some wonderful times and your high school friends didn’t always have such great lives. Another way to put it is does it matter who has more money if both of you are sitting in a nursing home pooping your pants? When I became antidepressant compliant I started remembering the good times of the past and enjoying simple pleasures of life. I’m not saying that an antidepressant will make your life wonderful by itself. I also disconnected myself from the porn (all those women you find there will grow old and gray some day and look as ugly as any woman you can have), found a diet to control my weight gain, and found ways to cope with my voices. I also accepted that I’ve done more good than bad. When you stop comparing yourself to others and find the good within yourself then you will find a better you. And in the end no one will care who really had the better life.
I stopped comparing myself to others for the most part (not completely) , a while ago. I’m more worried about sorting out myself than worrying about how I compare to others now.
I don’t feel like a loser. It’s not my fault I have sza. And I accomplished a lot with this illness. I’m a better person than i was pre-psychotic break. I actually like myself now
Its not healthy to compare yourself to others.
SZ and SZA are some heavy hitting illnesses.
It isnt fair to compare yourself to more "normal’ brain people.
I was feeling quite low yesterday and started to carry these jealous type feelings over my brothers success.
It is not fair to myself, I have a severe mental illness and disability - I have come a long way in many regards.
Keep walking forwards, even if they are baby steps.
You are not a loser, it is very difficult to live with this God awful illness - Comparing yourself to others is not a healthy solution.
I feel like a complete failure. and the really kind of sad thing is, I had a boyfriend of just short of 2 years. I broke up with him because he wasn’t motivated in school. he didn’t turn his work in on time and he didn’t want to try. I felt I was growing up and he wasn’t. the last 2 or 3 months of my sophomore year just for some reason became HELL. I’ve struggled with school my whole life, but I literally could not do it anymore. I dropped out the beginning of my junior year… I constantly see pictures on Facebook pointed towards the seniors who graduated this year saying something along the lines of ‘congratulations you got through the easiest part of life’ and it makes me feel so horrible, I failed the easiest part of life. I’m so scared for my future. 
I been trying not to comment as much because I reaaally know people don’t like hearing my ■■■■■■■■ when I’m not even diagnosed… I’m working on it though. I will talk to my mother… I just… it’s gonna take me some time… I want to tell her. and I will. 
High school is definitely not the easiest part of life, it’s actually one of the hardest. Don’t be too hard on yourself, you can finish your schooling when you’re ready. Are there programs in the US to finish school?
You are young. You have time to adjust yourself. Be prepared to talk with your mother.
I can get my GED. and that’s what I was supposed to be doing when I ‘dropped out’ but it’s been like 9 months and I haven’t gotten the motivation to do that either 
with so many people pushing me, and my dad offering to pay for it all I still can’t get the motivation. I did try for a while after I dropped out, but it’s so so so difficult. before I dropped out I was at a point where I just gave up, I’d sit in class with my headphones in because it became so difficult and I didn’t want to deal with it or be there. I was skipping more often than not just to avoid sitting for 8 hours knowing I’m gonna do nothing.
I used to, but not these days. Maybe I’m not as rich as some of them, but I’ve overcome more than most of them. I have a wonderful wife and an amazing kid. Life is alright.
For me I don’t compare myself to my neurotypical friends. However I sometimes do to people I’ve lived with in supported accommodation or been a peer support volunteer for.
I’m 31 this year and don’t want to be in the position like I’ve seen of a 50yr old living with their parents and haven’t done anything in their life!
Realistically I can’t move back in with my mother, as she is in sheltered accommodation! My father also passed away many years ago! At one point she wanted me to be her carer, but this would make me unwell and I’d have intrusive thoughts like when she was bed ridden.
ATM I’m looking to do a part time distance learning degree in Oct and do a lot of volunteering. I find the volunteering very rewarding, whilst helping with my degraded social skills.
It’s never too late to do something with your life, that can give it purpose and fulfilment!!!
I am one of the few kids from my high school class to be on track to become a doc. It sucks for me because the work isn’t my problem, I am a machine when put to work. It’s the illness that hurts. Insomnia, taking tons of meds to be normal, meds having side effects, stigma, all of that hurts.
I actually am pretty good on the professional and academic side of my life. Some of my friends who are not becoming shrinks or dentists or surgeons or professors or working in pharmaceuticals feel envy.
I envy the mental health of the people in my league, and they envy my physical health. I am quite the athlete.
I have trouble finding friends who are really equals to me in terms of professional lives. I mean I didn’t get some affirmative action crap with my success so far, more like people made it harder than it should have been, and being poor and mentally ill is an incredible disadvantage to my peers in the league of scholarship and dedication we live in. They mostly are not poor, went to expensive schools and don’t have unstable households which some call dysfunctional. Only one of said peers has MI and his is clearly not quite as severe.
I feel like a champ. I fight two wars. Graduating top of your class and getting into a doctoral program in a clinical area like psychology, dentistry, or medicine is hard, being severely mentally ill and seriously emotionally disturbed is worse.
Doing well and good while being sick sucks. It is difficult. I am proud of difficulties I overcome. At the same time, it’s hell.
But to say that you have been to hell and came back to earth to fight demons is pretty cool. Sucks when the demons are still hunting you the whole time.
My peers…sort of funny. They are taken back by what I can do, and they forget that I am from a poor and sick household because I hang with them, and they come from health and wealth.