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Sharing – Others Have it Worse
I think there maybe a couple of reasons why we fall into this. Al mentions one of the big ones, this becomes a way to avoid really facing our own issues. Since our issues are “not as bad” as someone else we can point to, this becomes our excuse to simply accept them instead of trying to work on ourselves and do the hard work of healing. Similarly, I also think this is an example where so many of us don’t see ourselves as worthy of getting better. Our issues aren’t as bad, so we don’t really deserve to get treatment, or get support, or even admit that we need it. The truth, though, is that everyone is worth being supported and getting help when necessary. There is no one in this world who has never needed any support, no matter what kinds of trauma and struggles they are having, or how bad someone else might have it.
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Sharing – Don’t Just Post About Supporting Those With Depression, Support Them
John ends his post with an important message, one that I echo for sure because his story is something I’ve heard too many times. He talks about “reaching out” to people only to be dismissed. Being told “Oh you’re strong, you’ll get through this”, or that it’s not that serious, and then the struggle to reach out to a hotline or for professional help and be met with some short term strategies, and lack of available resources, etc. is how you “support” depression without really supporting the person in front of you dealing with depression.
Just the other day I saw someone close to me talking about spending 45 minutes just trying to figure out how to set up an appointment with a therapist through the app her insurance has set up for her through her employer, before finally giving up.
This is why we need reminders like this for the people we know, and why we need to remind the entire mental health care industry of this as well.
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Sharing – Aly Raisman Talks Healing from Triggering Senate Testimony
This makes complete sense, but I fear it’s something we don’t remember when it comes to our own healing. We kind of forget that there are ups and downs, and we also tend to forget just how much energy and effort is involved in talking about it anywhere, let alone in front of a Senate Committee and national audience, and how that’s going to impact us for a time.
What Aly, and the other gymnasts, did that day in the hearing is brave, but we’d do well to also recognize how much energy that took as well, and the need to recover from that energy expenditure, because we should also be applying that to ourselves, and our own healing.
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Sharing – Feel Emotions—Don’t Fight or Feed Them
You know, many of us are guilty of this. We like to suggest that people feel their emotions, but we never really define what that means. I enjoyed the article below because it talks specifically about what it’s not, fighting not to feel them, or feeding them so much that they swallow us whole.
