People on Twitter sharing mental health advice that helped them

It’s not talked about enough but it can absolutely be traumatic to have to hide your true self from those you want to be accepted by.

Forget people's criticisms of body hair. People on the internet are feral and in real life, you'd be surprised how little people care if you shave or not. I have shaved since ever since I can remember, since I was a young teenager and at that time, I was expected to shave by society, but there IS a choice around the matter. Hair on girls is not weird if it isn't on boys, that makes no sense. You do not have to ask anyone for permission to stop shaving or apologize to anyone. Body hair is not unhygienic. If you want to do this, there is absolutely no problem with it. When it comes to your body, it is not normal for others to tell you what to do, even if you're in a relationship with them. Telling anybody what to do with their body is not ok. Sleeping with someone and then asking them to shave is not ok.

autism problem #1318

When your friend knows you’re autistic and have been bullied for it your whole life, but still won’t respect you and stop using “autist” as an insult.

If anyone does that to me, they’re not a friend of mine!

sometimes you say or do bad things while you’re in an awful mental place. sometimes you say things that are rude or uncalled for or manipulative. and i’m not going to hold that against you. mental illness is hard, and no one is perfect. but once you’re through that episode, you need to take steps to make amends. you need to apologize.

“i couldn’t help it, i was having a bad episode” is a justification, not an apology.

“i’m so fucking sorry, i fucked up, i don’t deserve to live, i should stop talking to anyone ever, i should die” is a second breakdown and a guilt trip. it is not an apology.

when you apologize, the focus should be on the person you hurt. “i’m sorry. i did something that was hurtful to you. even if i was having a rough time, you didn’t deserve to hear that,” is a better apology. if it was a small thing, you can leave it at that.

if you caused significant distress to the other person, this is a good time to talk about how you can minimize damage in the future. and again, even if it is tempting to say you should self-isolate and/or die, that is not a helpful suggestion. it will result in the person you’re talking to trying to talk you out of doing that, which makes your guilt the focus of the conversation instead of their hurt.

you deserve friendship, and you deserve support. but a supportive friend is not an emotional punching bag, and mental illness does not absolve you of responsibility for your actions. what you say during a mental breakdown doesn’t define you. how you deal with the aftermath though, says a lot.

I refuse to just sit here and be treated like this. This conversation requires both of us—and if you’re not going to respect me, I’m going to leave.

Friendships can be just as toxic as any other type of relationship. It’s okay to cut toxic friends out of your life. You don’t have to suffer through it just because they’re your “friend.” I know it’s hard, but better people will come.

If you wouldn’t go to someone for advice, don’t take their criticism either.

Some people are really committed to misunderstanding you, and taking your words in bad faith.

And nothing you can say is going to change their mind and sometimes the kindest thing you can do for yourself is to just not engage with them anymore.

PLEASE don’t do anything for me if you are going to throw it in my face later.

Unknown (via heavyrain-dc)

@positiveseed

YOUTUBE

Most important lesson I learned in the past year is, don’t let anyone turn you cruel. No matter how badly you wanna give the world a taste of its own bitter medicine. It’s never worth losing yourself over.

Also, just to add on to this in agreement: do not let your love of anyone convince you to do cruel things to gain their approval. if cruelty would impress them, or even if you only feel like it would, that is not a good person for you to be around, and not a person worth your love.

It’s okay to realize that you’ve “had enough.”   Please don’t hold onto things that are bringing you down because you’re worried it’s “giving up.” Sometimes when we’re growing or healing, we realize we’ve “had enough” of certain relationships, habits, or stressful situations. And it’s okay to step out of those relationships, work on stopping those habits and not engaging in stressful situations. 

“Choosing yourself won’t result in losing the right people. If choosing yourself (setting a boundary/engaging in self-care) results in losing them, question their motivation for being in your life. Why does protecting yourself hurt them? What do they gain from your self-neglect?”