We are all human, there is no escaping that fact. Try as we might and though we want to be something else when humanity fails us – this is the lot we have been given. However, we are all different. We are all special, we are all unique and we are all beautiful. We are all contending with something that threatens to do us in each day.

Last night I watched a video by a young man in his 20's talk into a camera that he had set up in his bedroom. He said it was five in the morning while he recorded himself crying. He had been broken down by the things in his life and trying to appear normal, do what everyone else was doing, only that wasn't agreeing with him. He said that he felt like a monster for degrading others, for talking about others when he knew it was wrong. He said he felt so bad about himself...no, he said he hated himself and wanted to die. He said his anxiety was out of control and he posted the video not seeking attention or likes but to inform everyone that sometimes things are not okay.

I kept thinking – he's the same age as my son. He is so young. He can't possibly know what pain is....he is too young. As if youth protects you from all the bad in the world. It doesn't. This is a mindset that need not exist in anyone. It is an old and archaic way of thinking.

How wrong of me to think that. How selfish of me to have that thought and think that pain has its limits when I know better. When I know that mental illness doesn't discriminate, when I know for a fact that it strikes any and all wherever they are...whoever they are.

I watched him cry and began to cry with him and I listened as if he were actually talking to me. I listened because I wanted to hear him say something very important before I would make any type of comment on his video. I listened to him go over the things that were bothering him and how hard he had been having it – and then he said it. "My mental health is really bad right now, I think I need to talk to someone." He told us, his audience, about how he had to call a suicide hotline just so he could make it through the night "without doing anything stupid" – his words.

My heart broke but when he said that he needed help, it let me know that he knew there was a problem that needed attention. He asked that his followers understand that he needed time and space away from that particular website so that he could get the help he needed. I pray he gets it.

So many of us have these situations and feel all alone in the world with them that we see no other way of coping, no other solution, no other reason to live. So many of us have cried and been broken down by the events of our lives that we've felt desperate to do anything that would help alleviate the pain we were experiencing. Anything seems better than living through the thing that is hurting us.

In my life...more personal now...I've felt this. That nothing I could do would make it better. I've cried and prayed so much in my room that I called it the Crying Room because that's where all my tears fell. Whenever I felt like I was about to break, I would go into my room and let loose. If I was out and away from home, I'd put on my best mask and wait till I got home to let go.

Out of the overflow the heart the mouth speaks and I'll add something more to that – out of the overflow of the heart, the eyes leak.

We are not equipped to hold on to so much pain. Try as we might, our own bodies act against us. Sometimes our tears are a showing of pain. They are what happens when we can no longer pretend to be alright or hide the fact that something is wrong. Sometimes they are an indication to others that we need help....that we need attention...that we need care. We shouldn't dismiss it when they fall, we should pay attention to why they are there.

When I was younger, my crying room was the bathroom. As a child I would cry while taking baths and then as I got older, in the shower and as an adult – just standing in that space until I was done. My crying room now is my bedroom. I have privacy and comfort here ...for some reason this is when I feel closest to God. It's not a bad thing.

I take my tears to the Lord because I know He knows what to do with them. My tears aren't in vain neither is my living. I know that my needs are being met because I am still here. My wants are few and I am being taken care of. I lean on the Lord for everything in my life – everything. My pastor and therapist say that's living in Grace. I just think its common sense to take it to the one that can do it all.

At the end of the video, that young man said that he felt a little better having cried the way that he did – that crying was a therapeutic thing and filming himself doing it made him feel better but that he was still going to seek help for the issue because he felt that something was wrong. I'm no doctor so I can't go around diagnosing people nor will I. I just knew that something was up. The more he talked the more I could see that he was right and needed to get some help. God willing, he will.

God willing, those reading this that think something is wrong will get the help they need. Mental health is just as important as physical health and should be taken seriously. Don't worry about what you can't afford, what you can't pay for....hospitals can help you. Your local mental health hospital can help you.

If you need more information that is not listed below, I would be happy to help. I hope you are all having a wonderful fall day. I hope that you are taking care of yourselves and I hope that you are learning to love each other and yourselves.

May God bless and order your steps. May His love be a healing force in your life and May His light shine in you and through you all.

As always, thanks for reading!

I've done this before – but I will do it again...

IMHRO (One Mind Institute)   

 https://www.imhro.org/

Mental Health - International Medical Corps

https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/.../ment...

World Federation for Mental Health | Est. 1948

wfmh.com/

WHO | Mental Health

www.who.int/mental_health/en/

NIMH » Office of Global Mental Health (OGMH)

www.nimh.nih.gov/.../office-of-global.

Kids Under Twenty One (KUTO) 888-644-5888 www.kuto.org

National Alliance on Mental Illness 800-950-6264 https://www.nami.org/

Mayo Clinic -

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/basics/definition/con-20033813

U.S. Department of Health & Human Serviceswww.mentalhealth.gov/

Department of Mental Health 800-364-9687 http://dmh.mo.gov

United Way 211 http://uwworldwide.com/our-impact/focus/health/

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

NAMI is also a resource that you can use to find out more about your diagnosis. Please don't self-diagnose, seek a professional but do learn all that you can about mental health issues. I hope these resources help you or anyone you know that may be in need of some help.