CoffeeTattoos

I’m writing this post at the suggestion of a fellow Stigma Fighter, Rachel Thompson.

This is a conversation from Twitter on Sunday:

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Mr. Negative: Why are humans so against suicide. The fleeting moments of happiness aren’t worth the work and pain in the interim. 

Me: @BipolarSanity But the good moments are worth it. You just need to remember them when you’re struggling.

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattoos you are are too young to say that. 

Me: @BipolarSanity I may be young, but I’ve faced my own struggles. And I have learned how to deal with the lows. 

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattoos not yet you haven’t. Take another twenty years. Add jobs and kids and marriage. I felt the same at your age. 

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattoos I actually cope well, but it really isn’t worth it. 

Me: @BipolarSanity Please do not tell me what I have or have not been through when you don’t know me. 

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattoos lol. Don’t get defensive. I said what you haven’t been through not what you have. There is a difference. 

Me: @BipolarSanity That may be. But you seemed to discount what I have been through as “not enough”.

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattoos in the context of your response to me

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattos in fact, I could say your initial response to me discounted all the years of pain and suffering that I’ve been through

Me: @BipolarSanity I never discounted anything. I simply said that remembering the good moments can help sludge through the bad.

Mr. Negative: @coffeetattoos that just isn’t true. Maybe it works for you. 

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I honestly don’t understand what this guy’s malfunction was. Other than the obvious, he’s suffering from depression and believing the lies that the demons in his brain are telling him.

Reading his comment about how I’m too young to be able to say that you need to remember the good times when you’re dealing with the bad really irritated me – more than I let on in my responses. Who’s to say that what I’ve faced in my life hasn’t been difficult? Only people who know me and who have talked to me through the things I’ve faced. How does he know that I haven’t faced struggles that pulled me further down into depression? He doesn’t.

I posted about it in a couple of closed groups I’m in on Facebook and people gave me overwhelmingly positive feedback. One person reminded me that I have all kinds of people in my life who are supportive and want to help me, so I should be focusing my energy on them. Rachel said the best thing to do is to dismiss, unfollow, or even block the problem person. By the time she commented on the post I’d already unfollowed the guy because I realized that everything he was posting was so incredibly negative and I didn’t want that in my Twitter feed. Another person pointed out what I’d realized about how he’s stuck in his depression and believing all of the lies it tells him, and also how he’s only further isolating himself by being so rude to people when they’re simply trying to offer him a bit of hope. They also said that “Some of the truest true things come out of the mouths of babes.” I agree with that. Just because I’m not as old as some people doesn’t discount the fact that I still understand how depression can affect a person.

It’s difficult to handle these horridly negative people on your own, so I’m grateful to have such wonderful people that I can count on for support when things like this happen.