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• how do i ask for help?
  

  I never wanted to admit it either. Until my best friend caught me with awful open wounds on both my wrists.. I had rolled up my sleeves to wash some dishes and I didn’t even hear him coming into the kitchen behind me.
  You know what he was most hurt about?
  That I never told him I was in trouble.
  
  If you’re really in trouble, hurting yourself, or even thinking about it, don’t beat around the bush. Tell someone you can really trust. It’s not an admission of weakness. But you’re going to have to be open to things like therapy, and sharing things that are painful to talk about.
  
  But if it helps;
  if you’re strong enough to tolerate this pain, and confusion, and still be surviving and functioning, you’re strong enough to get past it. You’re strong enough to talk about it and deal with it.
  
  I made it. I’m okay now; I’m in school, working towards my degree, things are going well. You can do it too.
  - written 5 months, 1 week ago

• How do I tell my soon to be college roommates I’m gay?
  

  Ooh, goodness.
  Here’s what’s important; tell them NOW. You do not want to be dealing with this a week into the semester. You don’t have to make a big ceremony of it; just mention it.
  “I like music, and movies, and hot men…”
  (Sorry, bad joke)
  
  But seriously. Tell them now, and then tell them this:
  
  “if you have a problem with this, or if you think this is going to be a problem at any point in the future, we can call the college together and mutually request a roomate switch.”
  If you make them feel like the bigoted bad guys, you could be stuck with ****** bigoted roomates simply because they’re trying to prove that they aren’t– are you following me here? Even though this is not in ANY way a flaw or something you are “at fault” for, if you spread the “blame”, you can make everyone feel easier about it all without pointing fingers. If they have issue, it’s not their fault, probably; it’s how they were raised.
  
  If they have issue, call your college; you can probably either find roomates who are more open-minded, or who share your sexuality, OR request a room by yourself (although that’s considerably less fun).
  
  Hope it helps!
  - written 5 months, 1 week ago

• Nothing is going okay?
  

  Your friends will help, I’m sure they will. But you need to be able to find okay-ness within yourself. It’s important and I know it’s incredibly difficult.
  
  I did this once, though;
  
  My parents grounded me in highschool because they caught me being.. self-destructive. No friends, no phone, no internet.. I thought I was going to lose my mind. Finally, I asked my dad to sit down with me. Calmly (WITHOUT yelling or crying) I explained to my dad that I was having a difficult time emotionally, and that my friends provided a lot of support to me that I really needed. I asked for him to allow me access to what was, at the time, my support net.
  
  A lot of these situations arise from unwillingness to communicate, on the sides of both parties, parents and children. You have to be willing to share if you want him to compromise for you. It’s hard, really hard, but worth it. I promise.
  - written 5 months, 1 week ago

• Nothing is going okay?
  

  Oh, sweetheart.
  
  I’ve been there. Really, I promise, I have. I’ve done it. And despite my personal flaws, I got through it. I’m alive still.
  It won’t stop until you choose for it to stop. That’s hard, but you’ll figure it out.
  
  When I was living through this– the insanity, the pain, the irresponsible self-destructive thoughts– I was so sure it would never get better. Every day was… awful. Unbearable.
  And it was, for long enough that I thought I was right.
  Then it did get better.
  And funnily enough, looking back, there are good things I remember, too. When your emotions are pushed that extremely thin, the littlest moment of good seems magical. To this day, I remember the pain, yeah. But it’s fuzzy pain, remembered more conceptually than in any detail.
  
  The good parts? I remember them in stark contrast. They were some of the best single moments of my life, and I’ll be the first to admit that they were almost worth it. Escaping with a friend. Enjoying the bluest skies you think you’ve ever seen. Sneaking off for a quick indugence (be it a cigarette or a stolen beer or just ten minutes alone with a good novel), the right song coming on at the perfect time.. I wouldn’t sacrifice any of it.
  
  If you haven’t read it, go buy “Weetzie Bat” by Francesca Lia Block. I still read it when I’m in a ****** mood, and it makes everything better.
  
  Honest.
  - written 5 months, 1 week ago

• I know I’m only thirteen, but I know when I’m slipping away from myself.
  

  Hey BlackieBlueness…
  
  I was there– six (wow, six? I feel old now) years ago. I was awful at your age, and I progressed into all kinds of trouble. I lost it at my parents, I was cruel to them, I’m sure I wore my mother to the very edge of what she could handle.
  And, like you, I was friends with a lot of people who had very complex, deeply ingrained issues. People who were using hard drugs, cutting themselves… The people who were genuinely “emo”, not just part of a scene, you know what I’m talking about?
  After a few years, though, I outgrew a lot of it. And some of those people did, too, and we are still good friends. Some people fell by the wayside, and that was painful, but I grew past it. I graduated highschool a year early and went to college and moved on with my life.
  My mom and I are best friends now. She forgave me instantly, and we figured everything out. We figured out where both of us failed, and moved past it.
  
  
  I don’t mean to sound preachy. But it’s going to be okay. In a few years, you’ll laugh at the things going on in your life right now; and more than that, you’ll be a bigger person for having experienced it.
  
  I hope this helps.
  - written 5 months, 1 week ago

albrittong's conversations are tagged:

friendship, List of Internet slang phrases, Sexual Orientation, Head, roommates, heart, Coming out, walking, depression, Gift, sadness, boyfriend, i need to cry, Hall, guy, Sweet, dump, life, self-control, family issues, self confidence, confusion