Anonymous asked: I'm in a vicious circle, I'm having a lot of family troubles, I've cut contact with my siblings because one of them literally ruined my life and my mental health. I don't know what to do. It's been 4 days since my last meal, I skipped school and felt dizzy and depressed, I've cut myself like never before. I'm way too young for all of this and I feel like something's really wrong with me, I'm going mad and I seriously feel like I'm losing control.
Response: It seems like it is going to be really important to first find a way out of that vicious circle, and that’s no always something we can do on our own - nor should we feel like we have to. You deserve to have support and caring - it’s just a matter of working out how to find it. I don’t know where you live, or even what country so hopefully some general ideas, websites etc at the end of this message will help you to find what is available for you. Other than that I want you to think about how brave and strong and resilient you really are. Despite all the terrible stuff going on in your life, you are a survivor and you are in control of your choices in response to everything life is throwing at you. Life is a struggle, but you are surviving !! try to identify even the littlest things that keep you going, even if it is just the time you can go “online’ and feel connected with people, or going for a walk, enjoying the sunshine, people watching, patting a stray dog, or even just smiling at an old person, or asking them how their day is. Doing more of these little things can help you feel happier in yourself, and you never know, it might open the world up to a bit of support or friendship from someone you would never ever have thought about. try smiling - even a fake smile uses muscles that sends happy signals to the emotions centre in our brain. Instead of cutting, try holding ice on your skin - it burns and it hurts like nothing else - but it doesn’t do any lasting damage. Please if nothing else, tell an adult what you are going through - a teacher, pastor, counsellor, doctor, youth worker… you just don’t know who will have the key to helping you out of this vicious circle.
As far as I can work out from websites and current resource lists, in Australia you can call Lifeline 131114, Beyond Blue 1300 22463, Kids HelpLine 1800 55 1800. In England- ChildLine 0800 1111, Mind Info Line 0845 766 0163, The Samaritans 0845 7909090. In the USA - SAFE on 800 366 8288. Some useful websites might be www.headspace.org.au www.reachout.com www.blackdoginstitute.org.au http://whatworks4u.org www.oyh.org.au . Good Luck and stay Strong.
Love and light,
Sjana x