What would you do if someone was calling out for help? Do you really think the positive posts on your Instagram story will do the job? Does that just instantly make you some kind of hero, some kind of advocate? Inspirational stock photos cover my timeline while these are the same people who will call someone drowning in their own depression “attention-whores.” I’m witnessing seas of people all in their own Titanic shipwrecks, except there is no ounce of romantic flair, as I question the possibility that I am the only person navigating the lifeboat.
A week ago I was exposed to the truth that the so-called friends I had months ago were now struggling with anxiety and depression. Divided, this band of girls who kicked me while I was down beginning to branch off deeming the others dramatic, leaving them lost at sea. Maybe it was because I lived through the same trauma or maybe it was because I wanted these victims to be saved but I expressed my desire to help these girls.
The fact that help is not always wanted to prevent me from doing so. I was shot down with the line that I “didn’t owe them anything if they cared they would’ve helped you.” These girls inflicted worse pain onto me, which meant in some foreign, immature language my help would never be accepted.
My lifeboat has sailed away, as I watch these victims bob in the sea, one thought comes to mind. I wonder if the inspirational, block lettering that celebrates mental health on their Instagrams will actually save anyone because some people are drowning for “attention.”