No one, because the only people in my life either wouldnt give a fuck, or would try to basically turn it into a competition ("Oh, you have X? I have X too, only worse. And also Y.").
So I internalize it and push it all down into a tight little ball in my lower abdomen, until the day comes where it becomes a cancer and consumes me.
I am blessed to have two friendships that I have been able to maintain even through times of depression and paranoia, mostly because they are stubborn and forgiving enough to stay with me and reach out, even when my delusions of having to isolate from everyone because I am too horrible and bad to deserve friendships kick in. It's a privilege I know isn't guaranteed in life and I am so damn lucky that the mess I have comes with them.
If you are going through tough times and don't have anyone at the ready, I know it can be hard, don't give up. There's the professional stuff like therapists, emergency hotlines, self-help groups and, yes, sometimes even strangers on the internet can be enough to give you a necessary mirror to at least lessen any delusional self-hatred and hopelesness that can creep up. Reaching out can be hard and seem impossible, but it is possible, and it is worth it - you are worth it.
I reach out to my husband, who is super awesome and usually can help me put my problems either into perspective or out of my mind. I'm usually good at changing my mental channel, but sometimes I struggle and I'm grateful that he knows how to help.
When I'm not at my breaking point but am having a crappy day, I reach out to my dog. She's not very cuddly and she's dumb as a box of hair. She'll sniff my face (focusing on the eyeballs, god knows why) and then turn away and cold shoulder me. But if I try to get up and walk away she'll follow me like velcro. It cheers me up in a bizarre way :)
It's worrying how many of the answers are "nobody". Not surprising based on Lemmy's main demographic being men in their 20s-30s, but damn.
I freshly graduated secondary school and still have a tight-knit friend group that I can lean on. Even as we drift apart, I hope I can still maintain this type of support network in the future, although I'm not too optimistic.
I'm super lucky to have a couple of close friends who I know I can call on. When my dad was dying of cancer at the end of last year, they both took turns coming over so I had company as a distraction 3-4 nights a week. After he passed they even took time off from their jobs and traveled out of town to his funeral while refusing my attempts to pay for their hotel rooms. I'm eternally grateful for them and I don't know how I would've made it through that without them.
The internet. Really the only place I have if I am at that point. My family never understands and half the time I don't even think they listen to me. They don't even give platitudes or anything. Usually just a glazed over look and a shrug.
Suicide prevention hotlines. It helps to have a neutral voice to emphasise with me or tell me what help I need to sought out.
My bartender. They're great listeners. Sometimes you just need to get it all out to someone that listens. They don't need to provide advice or anything.
I yell into the void. In reality I don't have a person like that.
Nobody. Everytime I've reached out in the past has never worked out. Haven't gone outside in about 5 years. I go to therapy, but 1 hour a month isn't enough to even scratch the surface of what I'm dealing with let alone anything new that happened between visits. I feel like a burden to my girlfriend and family (dont even have much of that left anymore.) And I'm too far gone at this point to make friends. If they won't invite me to game night over steam, why would I think they'd let me trauma dump on them or cry on their shoulder? Even typing this comment feels like a pointless cry for attention.
"We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies—all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes."
- Aldous Huxley
My therapist, provided I reach the breaking point at a convenient time when we have a session scheduled.
I reach out to Billy Bong Thorton and Wesley Pipes because they really help alot!
You guys turn to people when things get rough?
I guess when things get tough I'll turn to my older brother for support, one hug and everything is alright. But before him I was alone
My cats, husband, close friends and then therapist. Why I cuddle with my cats during hard times should be obvious, also husband. But when it's really bad I definetly text or call my therapist and cry on her voicemail.
I guess it depends on what I'm at my breaking point about. In prior times, it would have been my spouse. Now that I'm considering leaving them, it's been my handful of close friends from school. I trust their judgement and advice, and they've always been a supportive presence despite the many stressors of the past few years. I know if things got really bad, they'd take me in temporarily or try to help however was in their means.
No one. Tired of having people turn their back or outright slapping my hands away. Even had two therapists forget about me, which was fucking fabulous when I'd just been assessed by the crisis team as high risk for suicide.
Just want someone to relax and play games with, the ask for company has never been a high bar. Easier to have a circle of friends that is empty than be continually forgotten or excluded.
A few times I needed to leave home and get my mind cleared. Distance helped. I would go to my friends house for the night. I’m in Chicago Area and he was in Champaign.
He move to San Francisco so I went to my Grandmothers in Toronto for a week.
Other times I take the dog to do something.
That wasn’t sustainable so I started seeing a therapist if only just to vent and put an emotion on what I’m feeling. I have so much to vent that I make my therapist overwhelmed.
Spouse or best friend, depending on the situation. (If my spouse is driving me up a wall, best friend it is!) Larger friend group of it's something less personal or that I want advice or help from multiple people for. It's taken me a long time, and a lot of personal healing and growth, to get to this point in my life where I have so many people I can rely on. It's really nice.
My friends. I have a wonderful small group who at this point know when I need to talk, or when I need a distraction, or when I just need to sit in quiet but still want company. I'm fairly confident that I wouldn't be here without them.
I have people but i don't see the point in talking to others about problems that are in my head. If it gets bad I usually get drunk and complain into the internet void then wake up and delete my account and make a new username and start fresh. The older I get the less I'm pushed towards breaking point.
I've never done it -- but if I did reach out while at a breaking point, the priority would probably be friend -> sibling -> parent. Let's hope neither of us reach that point anytime soon, OP!
Thankfully, my answer isn't nobody.
I was completely alone until high school. I've got Asperger's so that didn't help things, but therapy and finally meeting sane people in high school got me to make friends. I'm ending college now and I'm still in touch with them. Got at least three people ready to listen to my rambling.
Now my biggest worry is losing them. I doubt I could rebuild that relationship with anyone else. We've been through everything.
