how to hold on to atheism when things keep getting worse?

[J a c k]

I prayed the most as a child. As a child I experienced the most tragedy. 
As a teen, I begged the god for forgiveness for accusing him of not protecting me when I asked. I said I'd trust him no matter what. Boom. Tragedy struck again, but this time it came along with humiliation that I never imagined in my worst nightmares. When I matured and left the faith, bad things still happened. I won't lie and say the troubles ended when I left religion. You know what I do believe with every broken piece of me? SHIT HAPPENS. It just does. It can be the best thing to ever happen to us, or it can really test our sanity. Shit happens to believers and atheists alike. Ignoring reason for faith will not fix everything. It just makes us lazy. You don't hold on to atheism. You learn to make soil with the shit life throws at you and you plant a lemon tree.
Sorry it hurts. Thank you for sharing. Hope it gets better for you. 

[Jehanne]

and im not even factoring in the daily depression i feel from not having a girlfriend, that alone makes me extremely suicidal. or how my mom emotionally abused me all my life, and how my dad doesn't want anything to do with me and talks to me like im garbage.

Gee, that sounds like a biography of my life!

Still, do you want reality or do you want fantasy?  Unless god is speaking directly to you, why bother trying to talk back?  Sam Harris has loads to say on this; I won't repeat it here.

Your best hope for a better life lies in modern science, psychology and psychiatry.  Admittedly, a lot of doctors are in the profession for the money, but some do actually care about their patients and clients, or at least act like they do.  Find a compassionate psychiatrist, and then, a psychologist, and explore every government handout that is available to you; a lot of these do not ever see the light of day in terms of advertisement, but with the right psychiatrist and/or social worker, you may qualify for programs such as SSI, Title 19, C-section housing assistance, food stamps, etc., but you at least have to look, or have others look for you.

Good Luck, and do not give-up on Reality so easily.

[Little lunch]

I don't envy your position. Sux to be you right now.
Every time I've been down it took a while to get there.
It also takes a while to get back up. One day at a time.
Hang in there man.

[Seraphina]

You sound depressed and lonely. For me personally, I've always found real people that I can see and converse with to be more helpful and supportive than a being that I believe is non-existent. Do you have friends, coworkers, neighbors or family besides your parents that you can turn to?

[robvalue]

I'm very sorry to hear of all your troubles. I've been a lifelong atheist, and gone through a lot of shit. I suffer from depression. So I understand, and you'll find a lot of sympathetic ears here. You're always welcome to message me, if I can help. If you're really struggling, please go see your doctor and seek some professional help.

This hasn't got anything to do with atheism though. Bad stuff happens whether or not you ascribe extra meaning to it.

[Aoi Magi]

Don't hold on to atheism if it's getting you this depressed, Atheism cannot help with your depression, and in this instance, it cannot even provide the fake mental support that religion does provide. Though with your level of depression, I would recommend visiting a professional and not relying on random people you meet online.

But, not to be rude, you should really look around a bit in the real world before you get that depressed about your own situation. You are a whole lot better off than most of the population of earth. You are worried about drainage in your apartment, where there are literally millions who would consider it heaven, just to have four walls and a roof on their heads. You are grumbling about a car, whereas there are entire families working together for years just to buy a bike.

If you believe you have a shitty life, you'll only notice the shitty things in your life. You need to look at the good things in life too.


If you can, grab a diary, and start noting down the good things that happened to you today, no matter how trivial. maybe you met a friend, maybe you watched something good on the TV, or maybe you just saw a baby laughing and felt happy just for a second. Note down everything, and check back after a week

[madog]

Don't hold on to atheism if it's getting you this depressed, Atheism cannot help with your depression, and in this instance, it cannot even provide the fake mental support that religion does provide. Though with your level of depression, I would recommend visiting a professional and not relying on random people you meet online.

But, not to be rude, you should really look around a bit in the real world before you get that depressed about your own situation. You are a whole lot better off than most of the population of earth. You are worried about drainage in your apartment, where there are literally millions who would consider it heaven, just to have four walls and a roof on their heads. You are grumbling about a car, whereas there are entire families working together for years just to buy a bike.

If you believe you have a shitty life, you'll only notice the shitty things in your life. You need to look at the good things in life too.


If you can, grab a diary, and start noting down the good things that happened to you today, no matter how trivial. maybe you met a friend, maybe you watched something good on the TV, or maybe you just saw a baby laughing and felt happy just for a second. Note down everything, and check back after a week

I think this post about shadows my opinion ..... I would only add that now you have realized that God doesn't exist there is really no going back ... For religion to work you need to believe the lies ... The placebo effect only works if you believe in the placebo

Dog.

[Alex K]

Yeh, yeh, atheism isn't that important. A good life is more important

[Dust_bunny]

i've had a pretty bad life and i thought it was cus god is a jerk and just wants to make me miserable, so i became atheist, but even now the way bad things just keep happening right after another makes it impossible for me to believe its just coincidence, and i feel like god is just trying to make me miserable cus i believe my life is a living hell from possibly a past life.

like these 2 months have been ridiculous, ive moved lately, and this new place sucks so much, the weather is terriblly nasty, traffic everywhere i go im looking at 20$ in gas from sitting in traffic alone, things keep breaking one after another in my apartment, and the apartment managars are impossible to get a hold of!! the only reason i moved here was cus i thought my last living situation was bad - but as always i seem to keep going from frying pan to fire.

and this last month for example!! after everything bad that happened last month, beginning of this month i found out my debit card got hacked and the people took like half the money that was in my bank!! so now im waiting for paperwork to come in mail to file  a claim, and the stress of what if the paper work gets lost or my claim gets declined - on top of that last night my roof just cracked and all the rain water comes right in my bedroom!! and the water got into my tv and completely destroyed it. 

and i just got into a car accident last week and now my car is all messed up...i keep telling myself, well its just a coincidence!!! the idea of god tormenting me in this hell is completely silly!! i am just an organism on this planet just like everybody else!!  but i seriously just want to shoot myself cus i feel like as long as i keep living i will always be miserable. cus i feel like if atheism was 100% true, then bad things and good things would happen about 50/50, but the way they way bad things happen over and ove rto me nonstop just makes me think its not coincidence.

and im not even factoring in the daily depression i feel from not having a girlfriend, that alone makes me extremely suicidal. or how my mom emotionally abused me all my life, and how my dad doesn't want anything to do with me and talks to me like im garbage.

 I have the same problem. I dont have answers as to why this is. I'ts very hard not to believe we are cursed lol. But really curses are all in the mind. The mind effects our internal world and our internal world affects our external world so somewhere, there is in fact something flawed in our thinking when probability is not making sense. Somehow we are doing it to ourselves. It doesnt make sense for me either. My life is drama after drama too. I'm reclused from life right now just to avoid problems. I hope you find an answer.

[mlmooney89]

Will the promise of a happily ever after help you? Because that is all that religion has for you. Would you turn from logical thinking because you were mad at your life? Does 2+2 become 5 because you are upset? The initial question of how do you hold on is logic. You think that regardless of what you are feeling it comes down to there is still no god to make life magically better. Bad things happen to good people every single day. Now on to the bad things happening I think a few others kind of covered those bases but I will add in that while you may not be able help the depression the rest of it isn't worth losing your life over. I have been abused, I've had to restart my life just like you. I went through a very dark decade but it isn't worth a life. Start looking at the silver lining. You have an apartment so you have somewhere to live. I won't sit here and act like your pain isn't valid but please for your own sake try to embrace this new life of yours and if necessary get medical help for the depression.