Managing Lifelong Mental Health as a Senior

@georgette (and everyone), you asked what you should do if something is scary for you.
Our first recommendation is to call or text 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline https://988lifeline.org. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress. They also have prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, as well as for health care professionals.

We need a safe place to talk about our thoughts, even when they are dark. You can do that here. We all can.
If the conversations over the past couple of days were a trigger for you, let's talk about that too.

I want to say to everyone, thank you. Thank you that we are a community that cares.

Georgette, thank you for writing back, you are right- people can't always do the things we need, but some can- so I think we need to let it out and just Vent-at times, than if people we the same way, they may wrote and explain why they feel so down and disconnected. Feeling sometimes can be our worse enemy (right) weather to trust them or not. Many times I feel I need to vent- but would rather not have allot of feed back-other times I do. So- one does have to not feel guilty about venting-whenever you need to-that's what friends are for and that's what this group is about-in a way, it could be called an extended family. As I'm sure you know, Depression and despair can drain us of 90% of our energy- at least that's what it feels like-right. The is group understands, I'm pretty new-but I can already tell-they care and they look for anyway to reach out-which helps us -by-helping you and others " Make sense I hope". in my Prayers. JJAMES. PS/ try not to feel to have to do something- at times we just can't, and that's way we need a life line( this group is a life line I believe).

Gail,
Thank you for acknowledging the important service that Teresa @hopeful33250 provides here on Connect. Teresa is one of 12 volunteer mentors who make our community welcoming and help ensure no post goes unanswered. Mentors are a critical support to the moderating team. You can read more about the role of Moderators and Mentors on Connect, and the key role that members like you play, here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/about-our-moderators-and-mentors/

Recently I wrote a blog post celebrating our mentors, you can read that post and meet all the mentors here:
- Mentors: A critical ingredient for Mayo Clinic Connect http://mayocl.in/2kkRe15

Hi, yes the conversations have been triggering to me. I thought I was witnessing suicide attempt. So I was anxious. I'm not professional with the resources of organization like Mayo Clinic. They have each other as colleagues. I am only lay person and mayo endocrinology patient. So I tried to think of ways to deal with anxiety over thinking someone hurt herself and we didn't know what happened to her. I know all about trauma. I was person that posted on dissociative disorders. Anyone that has experience with severe and prolonged trauma in childhood should think about whether they have dissociative disorder. Treatment includes learning to know what you could not know when you were little. You did that to function.

I was remembering when I was little that I didn't know if my mom would be alive when I got off school bus. So every day I got off school bus and checked on my mom. I was checking to see if she was okay. I went room to room. So I believe this experience on mayo connect triggered me into the same fear I had experienced day after day when I was little. Of course, you can't tell anyone even if you're only 9 or 10 years old.

I have found that quiet time with God helps me recover. I read my Bible every day without fail. I hike and snowshoe in woods. I spend time listening to running water or birds. It's really helpful and healing. I spend a lot of time in woods just listening in quiet.

I go to church but I know that people have limits. I listen to music and pastor. I give my offering. I eat a cookie and drink coffee. It's not perfect but it's enough. I try to talk to God because I believe only God can give us what we need. People are finite. Blessings.

To i hate diabetes....thank you for your concern and caring. I didn't even consider that my post could trigger anybody. I really should know that but i was not thinking clearly about that. I do belong to a forum on line that has an excellent group of forums for suicide loss survivors. They break the forums into categories which are open....like for military or law enforcement or veterans and such. I post on the parents who have lost children site most of the time. And of course there are professional moderators at all times and resources. But there is one group that is closed specifically for posts that could trigger someone.
I think that we do need a safe place to express ourselves. But the other side of that is that a person could get triggered. I don't know everything on this forum but i think everything is public. That is okay with me personally but i think that i would not want to say anything on a forum concerned with mental health that might be a trigger.
Your story about your mother also made me think of my mother as she had serious mental issues that were hard to deal with.
I am so glad you have found ways to deal with stuff and i think the ideas of being in nature and having faith are good for me, anyway, to remember. I am so sorry you had to deal with such trauma at such a young age. Thank you for sharing and my prayers are with you.

Oh, just want to say something and then i will sign off. I gave my phone number to theresa and colleen. So i now can be contacted.
But i need to say one more time that i feel much safer than i did last week. To have our online community care so much and wonder if i was okay was not expected and it has so overwhelmed me with gratitude. I will definitely not do stupid things without checking in with you guys first! Blessings

ihatediabetes/ thanks for sharing- it meant allot and very well said, thank God He hears us. JJAMES

georgette12- Would you mind sharing with me the meaning of ( Triggering) I'm not sure if related to a certain crisis -which I do want to understand. Thanks JJAMES

georgette12 thank you that in your moments of despair you thought of me and gave advice for possible volunteer positions. What a wonderful person you are that even in your grief you thought of someone else. georgette12 you did not do stupid things--you were a person hurting and in depression and that makes us do things we do not normally do. We all understand. If someone had a high fever and acted deliriously we would not call that stupid so we all understand how depression works. Please keep coming back as I will. I have not given up. My depression goes up and down, but never manic so I am not bi-polar; however, when I go down I can get really depressed and everything seems hopeless. Then in a matter of days I come back up some. We will all be a community together knowing that we all struggle with this thing called depression.

georgette-thanks for sharing, and you are so right about having a safe place- we all need to feel safe, I remember in war- I felt safe in my foxhole-really, might sound stilly I guess, but it was a place I could breath for a few minutes. JJAMES