raising awareness

[remus]

not quite sure if this is the right place, if there is a right place( kinda want to say this should possibly be in a more prominent part of the forum..)and weve all been touched by this in some way but can we raise awareness about mental health somewhere?over the Christmas period ne f my acting work buddies killed himself. and its shocked our community that i know him through as he was a real positive soul. but the more we talk and such (are looking into fundraisers and such for mental health charity and the like) but the stats are getting worse guys.(im saying guys as its mostly men and airsoft being predominantly men) so can i encourage yas to start thinking and talking to others about such? check up on people and the like. if you are struggling please talk to someone! family  friend teammate stranger professional. holding it all in your own head dosent fix things. my wife is bipolar and goes through a lot of stuff but shes worse when she dosent talk as it eats at her. we may not know how to help but do something please! 

mods if any issues let me know. people if you need/ want to chat also my inbox is open. 

note i also think the likes of airsoft is great for mental health and getting out and starting random convos. dont be afraid of this one! 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

it's something that doesn't get talked about enough, last i heard it was getting to the point that suicide was going to be the biggest cause of death for men under 25.

we've all had dark times, but they key is to talk to someone, get an external perspective on it, part of the problem is bottling things up and pretending like everything's fine, all very macho until it gets to the point where it takes you over.

you're absolutely right that airsoft is a great activity for folk in the same way that any social activity is a good thing, whatever it is use it, and it might be difficult sometimes to pluck up the courage to head out especially if you don't have a regular group to go along with but it's worth putting in the effort to force yourself to get out there.

 

[Tackle]

Hear hear, & thank you, I'm not ashamed to say I've been fighting depression & it's associated issues for 20 years (about the same time I started airsofting ?), & 2 years ago diagnosed with cumulative PTSD, so I know the struggle.

Not looking for sympathy etc, the "things" that are to blame happened & nothing can change them, but talking to someone when the "dark clouds" are approaching is preferable to fighting it on your own in private.

somebody once said that "depression isn't a sign of weakness, it just means you've been strong for too long", & for men that's often true, stereotypes mean that when shit happens we're expected to keep calm & carry on, not process/grieve/address what's happening.

So talk to someone, ideally the first person is someone you trust & see regularly, best mate/family member, someone who can then be aware of changes in your disposition, & who'll act if your not aware of your own downward spiral.

On the plus side, when things start getting on top of me, my usual response is to tell the missus "I need to shoot someone"..........& it definitely helps lol

 

[Jedi_Master]

@remus This is the place for off-topic discussions. No need to have a special section or move it higher up the list of airsoft related subjects. If members want to talk about mental issues they can post in this topic. 

 

[remus]

Exactly lads. Not about judging when it comes down to it it's about dealing with it correctly. Nothing wrong with having someone/ anyone talk issues over with. Might not get solutions but a different perspective helps. Trust me it's often surprising how much people like a big in depth discussion. I look forward to talking to my friends who do that more than those whom bottle stuff up anyway. Helps both people to understand. 

Plus having done some counciling studies there's often more than you are aware of of yourself. The example we were given was a window. You know the old 4 pane ones. Represents knowledge of yourself. There's the stuff you and only you know about yourself. Usually that you bottle up. There's the stuff you and your friends/other people know. Then there's the stuff they have figured out that you haven't. Others see things about each of us that we do not precieve. Then there's the things no-one knows that will only be figured when we come across certain scenarios like will we fight flight or freeze. (for eg I spend most of my free time with my wife atm. Most of my friends think I'm under the thumb. My fam believe it's for a certain health reason. She believes it's that and for mental health. Where as yup she's mad as and is struggling with a lot of things and has few things to do yet as she can't drive has moved to ni from Manchester has struggled job wise feels house trapped and has family issues and misses friends and such. That and bi polar... She needs the input. She's worth it. And I work crazy hours and have had very limited hobby time but I'm glad to do it. 

My point is I will still figure out and go out of my way for friends on top of that. I still wanna help others evennif it's a random post on a forum that might spring you to say a few words to someone somewhere. If I'm willing to for strangers than so are your friends. Speak up peeps! People want to talk about this