I just received a sudden message from a good friend: they’ve posted a piece of writing online and wanted me to read it. It was a candid, heartfelt piece about mental health and it’s going to really impact those who come across it. They felt inspired by my writings to hammer out some thoughts and reflections on their own mental health. I thought yes, amazing! They’ve written something incredible about themselves and now they’re going to become a part of a community who will read what they have to say, reflect on it, feel inspired by it and then maybe be inspired to talk about themselves, too.

I’ve had this blog for around two years now and my activity has always been sporadic at best, I tend to write when I feel like it and I’m glad for that, personal writings should stem from organic feelings and not a sense of necessity. My posts have attracted discussion over time because they’ve been natural and sporadic; I’ve had messages from people expressing encouragement, giving lovely feedback, or sometimes taking a moment to share something about themselves with me too. Some people have gone on to write journals for themselves, have felt inspired to try a different approach to their mental health, or as is the case with my wonderful friend have scattered parts of their lives on the internet like the stardust they are.

I had no idea the kind of impact this blog would have on the people around me. It’s really quite surreal to think that friends have seen me share thoughts on my mental health and have decided to start jotting down their own thoughts, be that for themselves or for others to read. Bear with me on this one but I think our lives pan out like books, books that aren’t complete until the day we die. We can talk about the chapters we’ve already written, consider the one we are currently writing, and wonder about the ones yet to come. These stories- our personal stories- are what inspire others, that is by far the most important thing I have learned from running this blog. When you share your story you will undoubtedly inspire other people to start thinking about theirs too. Go, talk to someone you trust, write a blog, write for yourself, share an anonymous post, jot something down in the Notes app, just start talking about yourself.