Dear LauraxKate,

I too have epilepsy; And my folks split when I was that age as well. Being diagnosed with epilepsy at first reinforced my feelings of outsider-ness and depression. Because now I knew that there had been something wrong with my head all along. But it took a long time to accept that I would be like this, and have to take a medication, for the rest of my life. Two things have helped me beyond belief, and I hope that you will find then as beneficial as I have. First, set manageable goals. Break down your ultimate objective into a series of steps. It's so daunting when you look at how far away everything seems at times. That's why you should break everything down into manageable tasks, step 1, step 2, etc. Then put this on paper and tack it to your wall. Whenever you finish a task mark it off and congradulate yourself.

Second, exercise. The more vigorous the better IMO; make the hardest thing you do in your day something you've chosen, like jogging or jumping rope. That way the rest of the day is "down hill" from there. No matter what happens during your day you can always say to yourself, "Hey, but I jogged a mile this morning". Oh and this runs into a third thing, delayed gratification. Don't reward yourself until you've done the most tricky/uncomfortable/difficult thing on your list for the day. So do the hardest things first, before you watch tv, have a drink, etc.

So those are my three tricks, I'm not perfect at them, but if I don't follow them I can feel the emptiness start to creep back in. I hope the work for you.

Now go out there and kick tomorrows ass. Hi-Ya!
Joel