So I got stuck in a depressive rut once again and I'm making a fresh start. Give me advice!

I'll move. My plan is to find a cheap place somewhere in France, but anywhere in the EU's good. Having like-minded roommates would be a plus. Anyone wish to bask in my glorious presence? I'm a very accommodating roommate (I've complained about exactly one thing in two years of rooming with various people, and never refused a request), respond well to nagging, tend to keep to myself unless prompted, don't have many irritating habits I can think of (maybe I use too much dish soap?), and am generally good with kids. And if you're a mentally odd person who could use a bit of live-in help, boy are you in luck!

I'll poke around at jobs until I find one I can reliably handle. That means not having to focus too much and no heavy responsibilities. Working from home is best - programming or web dev or translation or editing. For meatspace jobs, maybe tutoring. Anyone have a bright idea? Anyone want me to normalise the tags in their music collection for a pittance?

I'll try to develop better mental hygiene. That includes hounding psychiatrists, maintaining my network of friends (social life is the one thing I'm really successful at these days), cultivating new hobbies, and tinkering with useful habits. Anyone have deep wisdom, or an old lockpicking kit to send me?

I'll make some long-term plans. Taking up my studies again and going for that cool engineering career is the obvious choice, but it might not be a reasonable goal by then. Anyone want to recruit me for seasteading or something?

I have enough savings to last me for a while and my parents haven't cut me off yet, so I can afford a few failures before my life's in order again. Other than that I can't predict very much about how dependable my meds, any of my friends, my shiny new boyfriend, or my own brain are.

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I am currently looking for job around the british isles, currently aiming at Belfast. If I find a good job, and an affordable place, shared, I could message you, if you like? We sound reasonably similar (and why, I AM a mentally odd person who likes living with other people!). Or, if that is prefered, if you're considering moving to Sweden, I'd do my best to assist you. Always easier with a local contact.

I'm in Stockholm right now, but have to move out of my current place. Do tell me if this pans out, Belfast sounds good and you seem like a nice person from looking at your comments. My schedule might be tighter than yours, though.

Do you have a deadline for when you have to move out, or when to have a solid plan? I'll likely know if I have a position or not before wednesday, and there's plenty of living around the university area, in case you want to look at things yourself. I'll have to say likewise - you seem like a decent person, and I'm sure it is, as I'm indeed very flexible. I'll update you if I find anything relevant.

Oh, that works, then. Timeline:

  • On the 21st, I'll know if I'll be staying in the hospital for a while or not. If so, I'll have a friend keep my stuff, will look at new places from the hospital, and stay either at my current place or at that friend's between being discharged and moving.

  • On the 28th, I have to move out. My landlady's willing to put me up at her new place.

  • By mid-March, I have to move out of my landlady's new place if I was staying there.

If anywhere in the EU is good, consider giving higher priority to places with low unemployment. It simplifies life tremendously if you can count on finding at least some braindead job by next Wednesday.

I have found myself in what sounds like a similar situation in the past and this strategy worked really well. Others I've tried that did not work out equally well were: hitchhike to France and just see what happens (all my stuff got stolen), make lots of money by writing a successful novel (having nothing to eat turns out to be very distracting).

In other words, I recommend a relatively low risk /medium reward strategy until you're in a better place.

How does moving square with your shiny new boyfriend?

I find working from home, and thus being alone in the house all day, extremely depressing.

Shiny boyfriend is long-distance, so moving to a different part of the wrong continent changes nothing.

Being home all day is quite depressing, yes. It works as long as I can pick myself up and go on long walks/errands/errands that turn into long walks when I get lost, but I tend to stay home more than I should.

I'm not alone, though. I have a flatmate and spend all day Skyping with shiny boyfriend and talking to friends over IM and debating on IRC. I actually crashed recently due to lack of alone time, so in the future I'll make sure to take some.

Comme Jules Verne a dit souvent, <>.

(Ce message signifie aussi que la France est un pays où il serait préférable de parler leur langue.)

That's the main reason I'm going for France, along with being a citizen which means less paperwork. English-speaking countries and Sweden also work. Denmark and Norway and Germany would be easier to adapt to than most places (aw yeah, Grimm's law). I have enough of a knack for languages that getting by in any Indo-European one seems feasible. (Sorry Kaj, Finland's a bad idea.)

We're practically English-speaking, though. ;-)

Ut bene sciebat Iulius Vernes, hic sententia magne vetior est: Publius Terentius Afer "fortes Fortuna adiuvat" scripsit in dramate eius "Phormio".

(Errores? Humanus sum, falsus nihil a me alienum puto.)