Very well written, this is an important message. Thank you rhino. In fact I think for some dx it is of critical importance to come to this awareness.

It is also very important to discover what the triggers for this need for a certain kind of validation are (this can be very difficult). For me there is a certain comfort in mild depression and angst, and in being the victim or having a sad story. Or in some cases at least having those traumatizing events in my life acknowledged by another compassionate human. Mild depression and playing the victim is safe and known. Striving to get better and committing to life(which means letting go of suicide) and striving for success is far more difficult.

That being said I think it is important to be careful about generalizations on mental health and note that some issues do require a great deal of work/medication compared to others and it is easy for me at least to fall into the trap of thinking that my experience is similar to the experience of others (when there is no way to know that). I guess there is also a chance that a certain demography/spectrum of illness has more ability/inclination to be online in a chat room and discuss their issues. But I do think the aforementioned caveat is an important one.

It is also easy for me to forget that it took me a long time to get to the awareness that I have now, I find it helpful to remember the points in my life where I had other levels of awareness so that I can show compassion to people that are currently at those stages.

My 2 cents? (understand that I am often a hypocrite but I am trying to recover like all of you ) Love yourself and others, be patient and kind and realize that you only have one chance to perceive this universe.

Work hard to stack your odds in favor of a path that will make you feel the emotions that you want to feel, and the life experience that you want to experience.

When we live a certain way we build up a large number of contexts and consequences for that life, the longer that we live that way the more complex our situation becomes. If we want change we need to be ready to exert an effort to rebuild a new set of contexts for a new life. I see this effort analogous to pushing a stone over a hill. It requires a constant effort to get to the apex and if do not exert effort at any point during this uphill struggle there is a chance that we may slide back down to a lower point. However, at some point in time if we push on and work hard and make enough changes we reach the peak and the effort required to push the rock to the other side gets easier and easier until we have succeeded in our goal. Remember that change rarely comes without effort.

Thanks for the post little*rhino