Just listen. Just. Listen. I know it can be difficult to understand. I know it can be frustrating when you can’t see the problem. But just listen. Sometimes that’s all we need. The reality of mental health was always passed up as a bad day, a rough phase, a shitty attitude, or a pessimistic outlook, but there’s so much more that’s lying underneath. Listening helps.

Being there for someone doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers. Sometimes it means letting that someone feel freedom from their mental prison just by gifting them with your presence. They feel they don’t deserve it, but the pain is too excruciating, they’ll seek you anyway. A moment of rest amidst the mental chaos. You become their rest.

 An ear that listens can be medicine for a heart that hurts.

Steve maraboli

I’ve been on both sides; the victim and the witness. Being a victim of your inner demons does not make you weak nor undeserving of the life “after.” It doesn’t diminish the milestones you’ve accomplished or the journey you’ve taken to gain freedom. Having been victimized does not make you a lost cause. You might not even have it in your vocabulary and that’s just fine too.

I fell victim to the voices in my head and they had left me for dead after so many years. They just wouldn’t let go. Every person’s journey is different and this is mine. Back when mental health still had such a stigma surrounding it, I didn’t really have anyone to just listen. The one person that tried was having her heart break right beside mine which I couldn’t handle either so I turned to my escape; my writing.

Being a victim of your inner demons does not make you weak

All I wanted was for someone to just listen. I didn’t need answers, I just needed to feel like I was being heard, like my voice did exist. But even at my lowest point, I still had hope in life “after.” Not the after-life, but this life here on earth where I wouldn’t be walking around with a dark shadow hovering over me or voices telling me I didn’t have one at all. A life filled with peace where I can hear my own voice and help others find theirs. And now, I do.

I witness others facing their own demons and all I want to do is set them free, but I know it’s just not that easy. So I listen. I do it physically, and I do it by sharing their voices on my platform. But that’s not to say I don’t feel impotent having experienced what it’s like now, living on the other side. I get frustrated too, and it can get difficult to understand, but that doesn’t diminish their voice. I still listen. Sometimes all I do is just listen. Don’t tell them you get it. Don’t tell them it’ll be over soon. Just let their voice be heard.