{"id":81,"date":"2007-02-02T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2007\/02\/approval-ratings.html"},"modified":"2007-02-02T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-02T13:00:00","slug":"approval-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/02\/approval-ratings.html","title":{"rendered":"Approval Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the unfortunate things about “coming out” as a depressive is that any enemy in your past can rightfully say, “Aha! See? I knew she was crazy.”<\/p>\n

I was not well liked at my first job out of school. I admit that I was as annoying as Tom Cruise<\/a> minus the Oprah-couch-jumping<\/a>: loud but inexperienced, ambitious yet impatient, and much too competitive for teamwork. Still, a group of my colleagues didn’t have to make fun of me like a clique of popular seventh grade girls.<\/p>\n

Recently I’ve reconnected with an editor there, who, like me, suffers from depression. Our communication has unearthed some of those old feelings of insecurity. There are moments when I feel like I’m back in that little gray cubicle eavesdropping on a conversation about my mistake du jour. <\/p>\n

But I know I’m making progress. Because I don’t care as much that a few people (and many more that I don’t know about) don’t like me. One truth that the psych ward taught me is this: trying to do everything perfectly and make everyone like you will guarantee you a permanent bed there. Shoot for half. If you get more, you’re ahead of George Bush<\/a>. If it’s less, you’ve got God on your side as a cheerleader and loyal fan. Even if you’re annoying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the unfortunate things about “coming out” as a depressive is that any enemy in your past can rightfully say, “Aha! See? I knew she was crazy.” I was not well liked at my first job out of school. 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