[burncycle]

If you've got even a little bit of love to give to the world, bud, keep giving, keep living. In time, it comes back.

But don't just rely on Hacker News. Seek out others, in the flesh, face-to-face. Get some help. Don't try to feel okay by yourself. There's nothing wrong with feeling like shit. But there are a lot of people out there who've been through what you're going through and who want to help. Find someone objective to talk to -- a therapist, or a support group -- and keep coming back to them until you get to the bottom of what's going on.

As for me -- my girlfriend of many years is gone. I'm alone, working a job I don't like, living in a fairly expensive town with no friends who live close by. Believe me when I say that I've felt like calling it a done deal. I keep going because there are people out there who've invested in me and who care, because I have a dog who needs me to walk him every damned day, because I do have good people in my life, because I do have work to do even if I don't always like it, and because I've been alive long enough to know that, given time, the wheel turns 'round.

I won't tell you to cheer up. That's bullshit advice. I will tell you to dig deep, find something that matters to you, and stick around.