Hearing "You Are Dealing With A Lot" Meant The World to Me

When I slid into deep depression a few weeks ago I had my first foray into free online crisis chats. I'd never told anyone other than my mother about my depression and intense feelings of loneliness, or how I had no friends or had any experience dating. I didn't know what to expect and I did it a few times to different results. The best one by far was a wonderful woman who did something I'm sure many people think of as routine but I had never experienced: she told me that I had been through a lot and that my self harm was a way of dealing with the pain that I had in my life. I have never had another person tell me that I was dealing with so much that my pain was understandable. She was kind and funny and just want thank her. I don't know that I will ever be able to overcome my anxiety enough to talk about my problems out loud but at least I know that there are people out there who care enough to listen for a little while.

[cnt6870]

That is awesome that you share this as a 'win' for your experience. Even though many people that I have come across that partake in some sort of self-harm feel as though this is the lowest, you take it as a part of your journey and your self-discovery almost. I personally don't know how this feels and I imagine that the release of it all makes you feel human again but I also want to put forth the light that there are also other alternatives and I hope that you find a reliance in others to see you gain strength in your dark times.

[Hidden in reply to cnt6870]

I was in a bad place when I was self harming, it doesn't happen often. I've never told anyone about it so it felt good to know that I could do that, even if it was to a stranger (albeit one who is trained to deal with revelations like mine) for once. I'm not a good conversationalist and I don't talk to many people in my day to day life, my conversations are almost all with my parents as I don't have any friends. Thanks for reading.