I just want to add something personal maybe it can help explain my view on this tricky topic

I have on numerous occasions been in a really bad place and honestly not been “Safe”

So I make a post I’m really just not doing well “ people respond and usually ask me what’s going on... “ I’m overwhelmed , not sleeping and I feel worthless “ “ the sun is too loud”

I know I’m going to get the standard “ you need to call your Pdoc right now and get a Med change! Did that help me ? No !!! Not. At. All.

What honestly helped me the most is people understanding what overwhelmed “ feels like. What not getting any sleep is like, what feeling worthless is like. How in my Bipolar world “the sun can indeed be too loud”

I feel these are some things a person needs to hear.

How can I help ?
Do you want to talk about what’s overwhelming you ?
I’m really sorry your not sleeping I understand how hard that makes everything.
I understand feeling worthless
I’m always around if you want to talk
How about I just sit right next to, your not alone.

Just knowing people understood how I was feeling just by my initial thread was a gift to me , validation that “hey it’s okay to be a mess”

Sometimes I would start giving more details and answer some questions, sometimes not.... but anyone that tried to “ push me” with lots of questions or made me feel like I was being backed into a corner I literally ignored them and focused on the people who just wanted me to know I wasn’t alone. That is an enormous gift to give someone.

Numerous people reached out to me through PM and said Hey I’m here I have a shoulder if you need one, I’ll say a prayer for you, I always have an ear, etc etc ....

I was really blown away by people offering to just listen. A member PM’d me and said ... Well I’m going to just sit next you and maybe we can just take some deep breaths together. That member ? She’s my person I love her to bits ... she lives in another country but she just helped me realize that I had indeed reached out for help and thats a huge step. We messaged back and forth for hours.

I appreciated everyone who took time out of there busy lives to just stop and offer a kind word.

Sometimes people just need to be heard and listened too. The world is a big scary place at times.

Sometimes people just need to vent and that’s perfectly fine. Many members even post “ I’m venting I’m not really looking for advice “‘ give a kind word and a hug, maybe after they are done venting they might want to talk, leave it up to the OP.

Oh boy have I ranted sometimes, I didn’t need my Pdoc or T .... I needed to just dump everything out of me... I personally call it a word vomit lol

Unfortunately people can vanish and it’s not always that something bad happened, people come and go for all kinds of reasons.

Yikes I have rambled on and on , it’s just a topic that means a lot to me.