Five Blogs of Thanks - 5th Anniversary of The Anxiety Tracker - Twitterites

Hi all,

This follows on nicely from yesterday’s first blog of thanks and also contradicts a fairly recent blog I wrote about my disdain for social media.  I was primarily focusing on Facebook and joyfully wrote about how it can lead to increasing mental health problems largely through addiction, a lack of escape from being able to compare yourself (negatively) to others and trolling and how all of this can lead to anxiety and depression.  I vehemently believe this to be the case and stand by everything I said in that blog; I deleted my Facebook account in the back end of summer last year and I have not regretted a moment; it’s been wonderful not being exposed to endless drivel.

Yes, yes, I know, not unlike this blog.

So it seems somewhat hypocritical to write a blog thanking people I have engaged with on Twitter over the years.  Let me explain the difference.

I set up Twitter in 2014 to engage with other people who have experienced mental health problems and/or who are campaigning for better mental health services.  I wanted a platform to share this blog site with others to help them and gain feedback, primarily, but also to learn from other people’s experiences of living with a mental health problem and how they have dealt with it. I wanted to gain more intelligence around how I could help myself and how people who have experienced chronic anxiety (or equivalent) are facing later life. I also wanted to connect with like-minded people.  I did not set up Twitter to engage with ‘friends;’ the fact that a few of my friends are followers is irrelevant.  Twitter allows you to follow who you like without feeling guilty about not following others back.

Okay, so it’s certainly is not without its faults, but if used properly, it can be of real benefit for people looking for peer-to-peer and professional learning about mental health (people may tell me that Facebook can be too, which is fair enough – I appreciate I am in the minority when it comes to this view)!

Along with useful and interesting tweets from various mental health charities and organisations that support/run mental health services (see yesterday’s blog), I have connected with numerous individuals over the years who have inspired or influenced me in some way.

Leaders in the field

This list of Twitterites range from people who I perceive as leaders in the field, who have taken their compassion for others and passion for raising awareness of mental health and reducing stigma to an incredible level largely off their own backs. And who I probably wouldn’t know existed without being on Twitter. The list below is given in Twitter handle alphabetical order.

@ClaireyLove – who during my time on Twitter has risen to stardom with her fabulous book ‘We’re all MAD here.’ It has been fascinating and awe inspiring to watch this lady who must be of similar age to me express her experiences of social anxiety (and wider anxiety) with the world.  Check out this website if you haven’t yet.

@DoodleChronicle – a brilliant way of depicting how art and, specifically, doodles can be used to communicate what mental illness really feels like.  This Twitter site is more than just doodles, though, and contains incredibly candid accounts of what it is really like to live with a mental illness.

@enhughesiasm – someone who has turned to comedy to express what it feels like to live with anxiety, expressed in no small part by his TEDx talk last year which was brilliant. And made me hungry.

@FionaArt – her Twitter account states that she is an ‘individual trying to change the world’ and frankly who could argue? She has also contributed significantly to live mental health chats on Twitter recently – off her own back – so that people can tweet their live questions and experiences. Check out #mhchat.

@matthaig1 – a very talented man doing his utmost to make changes to our mental health system and influence those who need to be influenced. He has also written several books which draw on his expertise and depicts it in an empathetic, inspiring and vivid manner.

@MelJN17 / @MelNaray2nd – it’s not often you can tell someone is a beautiful person without physically meeting them, but Melanie comes into this category. Check out her two Twitter accounts to see what I mean – and her poems.

@MrJonnyBenjamin – The MBE for his services to mental health and suicide prevention pretty much says it all. His support to improve mental health services and raise awareness of the impact it can have on people’s lives knows no bounds. The powers that be would do well to listen to him more often.

@TheSarahFader‏ – and from across the pond, Sarah Fader is CEO of Stigma Fighters, another charity doing its bit to show that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of.  The success of the charity is down to Sarah’s palpable enthusiasm for the subject and she has even created her own hashtag: #ThisIsWhatAnxietyFeelsLike.

Thank you all for doing an incredible job at changing people’s perceptions of mental illness to such an extent that it is genuinely influencing national policy and activity – and ultimately, helping those people in greatest need.

Then there are all the brilliant people I have connected with on Twitter in the past three years who are going about their daily lives but in the process trying to make things better for other people by sharing their experiences and helping others through difficult periods. They act as sounding boards, trusted virtual entities that understand and can empathise with what ‘difficult’ really means. They are an army of compassion individuals, all vastly different but with one common goal: to help others. A special mention to those who have particularly affected me:

@Allinthehead19 – check out https://allinthehead2016.wordpress.com/.

@AnxietySunshine

@anxiwarrior – check out https://anxiwarrior.wordpress.com/

@DanAnxietyBlog

@DawnPriestland

@Jinthelife – check out http://www.ajayinthelife.com/

@jonnyward21

@katyfrank18 – check out http://katyfrank21.tumblr.com/

@ktanx1

@lesleylyness

@lisaeva77

@mandy166

@Miss_Horan7

@RoseWiltshire

@SimbaTalks

@shazzaph

@Syrupie

@vikyjane

Thank you all for being brilliant.

Before you ask, yes it did take ages to go through all of my followers to try and ensure I didn’t miss anyone (which I probably have failed to do – in which case apologies).

Then of course, as mentioned previously, there are the Twitter accounts of the various charities, such as Anxiety UK, Anxiety United (in particular, given their lack of resource), Mind (local and national) and the Time to Change initiative, Tasha Foundation, SANE and the Samaritans, along with recent dementia orientated charities which have also been increasingly useful for me over the past few months.  Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and resources on this platform and reaching out.

I think I am using Twitter in the right way; the amount I’ve learnt from this group of people and others is testament to this I think.  And moreover, when compassion seems scarce during the day to day grind of life, one log-in to Twitter can totally change that perception.

• To the Twitterites who are suffering, thank you for sharing and reaching out. I hope it helps.
• To the Twitterites for sharing your wisdom, thank you; I have learnt so much.
• To the charities Twittering, thank you for allowing easy dissemination of your information.

Thank you.

Best wishes,

Al