My overacheiving boyfriend's been on the down side lately. How can I cheer him up and give him good advice?

Question

My boyfriend is smart, talented, gorgeous. He gets good grades, excels at sports, music and art, is well-liked. Basically, he seems perfect. However, deep inside, he is quite insecure, sensitive and emotional. I've always been there for him, helping him, cheering him on, so on and so forth.

Lately he's been on a "losing streak". He's lost a major football competition, debate, grades have been slipping, injured his back again. He's out of luck. And most recently, he forgot to sign up for a very important competition. He's quite depressed now and I really want to help him, but I feel useless.

I'm there for him! He knows that. I've been comforting him but it's not really working, I want to give him good advice and I want him to feel better but he just can't seem to.

Help? Please?

Answer 1

My concern would be that if he is getting depressed even while being successful then his troubles are probably bigger then your skilled to handle, and you should seek help for him. His parents if they are approachable and respected, or perhaps a couch, school counselor, teacher or religious figure. Teen depression can be very serious with very serious consequences, it could be he is struggling with thoughts and concepts that are far greater then he is currently capable of handling and therefore can use the guidance of someone with a larger reservoir of understanding, which comes with time^^

I think you are a very good friend in being as supportive as you have been, and I hope not to come across as belittling in my response to your capabilities, I'm sure you have been an excellent source of support but it sounds like it is getting larger then your able to handle.

Answer 2

Tell him that today is the first day of the rest of his life. If he lets himself get into a slump now, there will be a lot of other bad things happening to him. Tell him to make a fresh start today. Just start putting more effort into what he is doing, and things will work out. Everyone has bad times and bad luck at certain points in their life. The mature person just keeps working through them.

Answer 3

Tell him it is just part of life. Ups and downs is what everyone goes through. I also say what comes around goes around. If you stay strong and have faith, you can over come anything! Just be strong for him and tell him you are there to listen and that you believe in him and that things will get better , you promise!