It has been a while since I dumped my thoughts, I do maintain several private blogs and in them I cover many topics related to my life.  Rarely do I put any of these thoughts on Facebook since the audience is to personal for me, however when close friends are affected I feel the need to share my thoughts with my friends.  There is the kindness of strangers, this is true.  But I am thankful for my family and friends most of all.  Anxiety, depression and mental illness is not an easy thing to live with and several of my closest friends struggle with it so I witness the effects almost every day. Recent news has brought to light famous actors ending their own life
because they can not deal with what is ahead of them, this is absolutely tragic and did not need to happen. A new diagnoses on top of their current issues proved too much.  When a person has a network of support, one that includes people who won't judge, it does help. This does not in any way imply that Robyn Williams did not have a network of support, I just mean that it helps.  It means they can enjoy some days and are able to cope with more of the bad days ahead.  It is a basic human need to be valued and loved, and none of us can deny this... 

With medical issues, there is usually definitive documentation and solid proof of a person's physical ailments.  Sometimes you can even
see the condition with your own eyes.  With mental illness however, there is an often an opaque diagnosis, an ever changing struggle to
get the help needed.  People don't see the pain inside a persons a brain, the struggle to cope with important decisions, they only see
what manifests in their actions.  These actions can seem confusing or quirky, for others they may judge, they may call them crazy, they
may just put a distance between them and push them to the outer edges of their social circles.  Society unknowingly places our friends
in a position where they lack self worth because they ask for help.  I want you to know that I believe people who ask for help are the
strong ones, as for the others, we need to help them not feel devalued when asking for help.  

I get up in the morning albeit with pain in my joints and a cough from a genetic condition in my family.  I take pills to help control borderline diabetis.  I have changed my diet and exercise drastically, tipped the scale from eating what I want and what I thought tasted good to one that is healthier and in balance.  I have that option to change these things and it is working for me.  I feel better and wake up feeling better each morning.  Most days I am eager to get out and get the exercise that I require to get my body's engine warmed up.  I feel it makes it possible to control the sugars, the inflammation in my joints and improves my body's autoimmune
response.  I do not wish to dwell on what I can not do or what is wrong with me because I know that my focus should be on where I want to be. 
I never really struggled with depression or any mental illness that I could not deal with, for that I am thankful.  What I have struggled with most of my life has been severe anxiety around people.  It has prevented me from being close to many of the people I wanted to be closer with.  Brother, Countless nieces and nephews and friends. I pushed them to the outer edges of my own social circles because it was too awkward to deal with them.  A simple hug from a friend or relative still sends me to that uncomfortable, awkward zone...  Anyhow my point to this is that I have my own mild issues as I believe we all do. I just want people to consider that there is more to what they see when someone asks for help on Facebook. It is a brave step and it is one that we should support when it is genuine.

If you are not sure if it is genuine, talk to them, get to know them and you will see for yourself.