CoffeeTattoos

A lot of times, when I go to a friend to rant about something that’s bothering me, they try to fix the problem for me. But that’s not what I want.

I just want them to listen to me. That’s it!

If I want their help, I’ll ask for it. But when it’s just pushed on me, I get kind of offended. It’s not their fault, because their intentions are good. I just feel like I want to do things in my own time and on my own, that when others try too hard, it’s just … wrong.

I love my friends, I really do. I just wish that some of them would understand this.

Being part of Stigma Fighters has given me people to talk to who understand what it’s like, what I’m dealing with. They don’t push help on me. They’ll give me advice and their sympathy/empathy, but they can’t force anything on me. It’s kind of nice.

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How did I get involved in Stigma Fighters? There’s a, kind of fun, story behind that.

I’m not sure how I found the website to begin with, but I thought it was a really cool concept. So I wrote up my essay and emailed it to Sarah. A few weeks later, she asked me if I wanted to write something for her. I told her I had, but apparently she’d never gotten it – there was an issue with her email. So I sent it again, and it went up on the blog. Then about three or so months later, I sent her another piece – this time anonymously. After that we started talking more. In December, I had another post go up, my anniversary post.

Around that same time, I’d also had the idea of turning the blog into a book. I pitched it to Sarah and she loved it. So she put me in charge of pulling all the essays together as people said yes, and editing them. I only did that for a few weeks, before it was sent off to an editor at Booktrope.

But before it was sent off to the official editor, I got an email from Allie Burke asking if I would like to be the executive assistant for Stigma Fighters. It took me by surprise. I hadn’t expected that at all. I mean, I knew that Sarah had gotten all the paperwork done for Stigma Fighters to officially become a nonprofit, but I didn’t know that I would end up working for it. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, it was just a huge shock. I did accept the position.

So now I’m doing tasks here and there for Allie and Sarah when I can as I’m adjusting to my new medication (I’ll put up another post about that later – date TBD) and the new school semester.