I wanted to share my response to a Quora submission I recently made. My excitement, however, is NOT about my pride over the staggering amount of “views, shares and comments”. It’s about the fact that SO many people from around the world are talking about it. You know? That very unpopular monster “IT”: Mental Illness. The awareness is spreading and the stigma is being reduced one “real conversation” at a time:

Hello my fellow Quorans. Please allow me a moment to generally respond to all of your overwhelmingly supportive and reflective comments and say THANK YOU! Although I have, indeed, and will continue to read each and every one of them, because there are only so many hours in the day, time will not permit that. So let me just say this: If there is a general consensus to be made here, it’s that this subject, “mental health”, and more so than that, what appears to be the very much declining mental health of a vast majority of the population, is something on ALL our minds these days. Rightfully so! Life isn’t as simple as it used to be, and I personally find it to be a rat race more than ever. Sadly, it does appear to be getting harder for even the strongest among us to just “exist”. Especially inasmuch as there is also that other general consensus if not “elephant in the room”, that the family system is truly breaking down. (See also, “Nowhere Kids“) To each his own” is NOT always the best way, to which as a digression I say this: Whatever your “family” looks like (because, yes, the “modern family picture” has changed), embrace it! If you have a “tribe”, no matter the different walks of life you all arrived from, cherish it! Protect it with all you have! We need each other folks! It is true … just look at this forum we’re all on. Look how this question has banded us all together “like a tribe”. Do you agree? It is highly likely that there aren’t a lot of us on this thread who are educated “medical professionals” with either psychiatric or psychology degrees. From what I can see, we’re all coming together this way with our own very personal, real, and first-hand knowledge of this subject. Call it “mental health awareness”, or, if you’d rather, just call it, “a bunch of broken people banding together to try and find a way either out of our own darkness or to try and find a way to help someone else out of theirs! In some circumstances, a forum such as this may be the ONLY resource someone has to try and find their way out of whatever Hell they’re living in. If you are on this site, chances are that you’re here because you just want to “know things” so that you can somehow help, too! Inquiring minds typically WANT to know and NEED to know for all the right reasons. We can learn from and feed off one another’s experiences so that we can then take “all of this” out THERE onto our own streets and try to make a difference. Even a TINY change in every our life cycles can make a difference! In my mind, I am nothing more and nothing less than anyone else. Do my life experiences matter? They sure as Hell do! But in the big scheme of things, I’m just so very small. My story? My husband’s story? YOUR stories? They’re but tiny blips on this infinite radar we call life. Small as I may be, I see myself as a pebble. I’m a pebble that’s been dropped in the ocean! Everything I do, think, or say is creating a ripple into a future that I myself may never see. We‘re ALL just pebbles my friends. Beautiful little pebbles with the power to change EVERYTHING if we just open our hearts and minds to the “bigger than us” perspective and share it. Thank you all for reading me. I have to be honest right now in saying that, yes, it’s been exactly 171 days since the one true love of my life put a gun to his head and turned my world literally upside down. I have long since made it my purpose with whatever days I am lucky enough to have left here of my own to try to be the BEST damn pebble I can possibly be, because it’s the right thing to do, and also, my kids are watching! All of your words and thoughts here have truly strengthened my faith, hope and spirit, and I am grateful. Imagine that? Thousands of random strangers from thousands of different places just lifted me, a random stranger, even higher out of my darkest hours than I thought was possible. If you are on this forum because you are indeed an “inquiring mind that just wants to know and help”, you’re a rock star and a pebble and my kind of vibe and TRIBE! We can all do this if we just stick together this way. We CAN make a difference. Much love to all of you. ROCK ON! Or is that “pebble on”? Hee!

(The Real Cat Williamson on Quora)

MAKE A WAVE

They say the beat of a butterfly’s wings can set off a storm a world away. What if they’re right and the smallest of things could power the strongest hurricane? What if it all begins inside? We’d hold the key that turns the tide. Just a pebble in the water can set the sea in motion. A simple act of kindness can stir the wildest ocean. If we show a little love. Heaven knows what we could change. So throw a pebble in the water and make a wave. The single choice to take us change. Have reached at your hand to someone in need? Don’t fool yourself and say you can’t. You never know what can grow from just one seed. So come with me and seize the day. This world may never be the same. Just a pebble in the water … can set the sea in motion. {Joe Jonas & Demi Lovato}