World Suicide Prevention Day: what you can do to show support.

Dearest Someone,

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, and I’ve been asked several times about whether there’s anything you can do to mark the day.

If you have social media, such as Facebook and Twitter  please get involved using the hashtag‪#WSPD or you can use the alternative #WSPD15 – people are using both 🙂 The theme of today (worldwide) is ‘Preventing Suicide: Reaching Out and Saving Lives’. It seems some people will be wearing orange, some people will be lighting candles at 8pm and the underlying theme is to check in on someone that you care about – if you yourself are struggling then I reckon its the perfect day to plan some time where you can practice self-care, do something that lets you relax and is enjoyable. 

Also, if you wish to get a little more active then I did a websearch and found this:

‘World Suicide Day –…

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Ten productive things to do on your day off!

Dearest Someone,

Sometimes I’m faced with a happy-dilemma… I’ve planned my workload for the next week and allowed myself to have a full, actual ‘do-nothing’ day off kind of Sunday, but I feel as though I need to find something to do. So… here’s my top ten suggestions for a productive day off:

1. Go for a walk – you’ve probably seen this recommended a billion times (and that’s not an exaggeration), but going for walks can help clear your mind (or occupy it). Also, it’s good to go out and discover new things, yet at the same time it’s also weirdly soothing to walk a familiar route – it can help ground you, and remind you that some things are constant!
2. Watch TV – this one’s maybe not so productive, but if you’re like me and you don’t often watch TV, (or you only ever watch the re-runs of Friends or How…

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Things I am certain about

Dearest Someone,

If your experience of mental illness (and life in general I reckon) is anything like mine then you’ll be familiar with the sense of feeling like you don’t actually know yourself. Even though you are probably (like 100%) the only person who truly knows you – you also feel that at times others might know more about you as a person than you do…

I am so so good at comparing myself to others, but I am always a pro at creating illustrious perceptions of what others think of me. I’ve managed to convince myself that like 99.9% of the people I’ve met over the past few years are all judging me, that they all think negatively of me, or that they are doing everything in their willpower to get away from me. (Or they are just trying to please me so to not upset me or make a scene…) 

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Blogging about mental health

I’ve a lot to be thankful for lately in terms of my Dearest Someone, mental health blog. I recently blogged for Time to Change and in addition to this I’ve been asked by several other campaigns etc. to ‘guest blog.’ So alongside planning for these posts I’m also in the process of planning new stuff for my Dearest Someone, blog. The nature of my blog posts via Dearest Someone, is often unplanned and solely focused on what I’m feeling at that present. However in the past I have posted several pre-planned posts about certain topics (such as the very popular post concerning the matter of Suicidal Thoughts). I’ve found that when blogging about mental health it’s okay to write as and when, I find that’s the best way for me to clearly portray my own experiences and to engage with current debates.

My most recent post Big Decisions: What are your tips? was an impromptu post I’d written this afternoon and has already received interaction over on Twitter. I find that blogging ‘naturally’ is a great way to fight stigma, and to add to the discussion of mental health. I personally think it keeps things honest and ‘human.’ That being said I have found myself planning ideas for the blog this afternoon (I have a lot of things that I want to talk about!) I think discussing mental health is so very important, and I want to do this in the best possible way. Which is why I’m currently planning new concepts and ideas that will open up the discussion to people further afield. I was very overwhelmed and humbled by the interaction with my Time to Change blog, and it’s opened my eyes to how powerful blogging can be. So… keep a look out for any new posts via Dearest Someone, and enjoy the lovely picture of my not-so-helpful cat Smokey (who was ‘helping’ me plan things.)

Adios!