Mental Health Awareness Month

[Floppa]

It’s May, and with Mental Health Awareness Month here, it feels like the right time to actually check in on people and be honest about how we’re really doing.

I don’t usually post stuff like this, but the truth is the only reason I’m still here today is because of the friends I met online. Just hanging out in voice chats, playing games together, those long late-night Discord calls, it all ended up meaning more than I ever thought it would.

A lot of people say online friendships aren’t real, but I think they’re full of shit. These connections can be some of the most real ones we have.

If you’re struggling right now and it feels like you’re totally alone, please know you’re not. There are people out there who care, even if you haven’t met them yet.

Take care of yourselves, and if you can, reach out to your friends too. A simple “hey, how are you holding up?” can mean much more than you realize.

 

[Exnem]

the only reason I’m still here today is because of the friends I met online.

OGs will remember my doompost from 2016-ish. Unironically I was pretty close to walking out the door, in a way. I bailed on school to save my mental health, I had been going through the slog of schoolwork alone, not a single person to really talk to.

I met some people none of you know well before I joined perp, and I am still friends with them today. Along the way, @Puffy Sandvich and I somehow became friends. Neither of us know how, or when it happened, it's like we both woke up one morning and it felt like we had been friends for a while.

Bailing on school and the inherent solitude I was in as a result of being there actually gave me the relief I needed, and I turned to socializing with the people I actually knew online basically full-time.

A lot of people say online friendships aren’t real, but I think they’re full of shit.

This is fact. I wouldn't be here right now without some of the people I know.

My situation was somewhat odd, as bailing on school meant I also bailed on my intended career as a semi driver. For the first few years it didn't affect me at all, but it slowly crept up on me that I didn't have much of a purpose in life, again. So I, in turn, looked at the thing that took up most of my time, and that was this server.
Keep in mind, I had spent a good few years focusing on helping people on the server, to my own detriment, something you'd call toxic empathy. As a moderator at the time, I made the most logical decision. I removed myself from the community with an arbitrarily set 5 year ban and got to work on starting a business as a fisherman.

The existential dread, guilt, uselessness, all of that has basically disappeared through my job.

This is a double edged sword though. As much as online friendships can help, they are also locked behind a screen that you cannot physically interact with more than you can move the mouse on the screen. If you fall into a similar situation as me, feel like you lack aim; then take a look at what you're spending your time doing, and focus on eliminating the things that don't benefit you much in the long run. I cut out perp in the short term to fix some long-term problems.

 

[Brian "Genuine" Hero]

yea cuz in online u get to meet a lot more people and IRL u can only meet so many that you would like to talk to and actually know so i get that shit what u mean about ppl saying that online friends arent real and i agree with you fully on that statement that was really smart what u typed and shit and i think u r cool thank you very much