Changing perspectives

A tiny shift in perspective can often open up a new window of understanding. It has taken me awhile to even begin to write this.

I found out last week that a fellow WordPress blogger — Ashley, of Mental Health@Home is no longer with us. I hesitated to write about this because we did not know each other in real life and only sometimes communicated in the comments section of our respective blogs. I didn’t somehow want to make something so profoundly sad into just another blog post.

And yet, how can I not mark the importance of someone in our blog community and not talk about how important each person who connects with us in any way is — whether in real life or online.

I found Ashley’s blog a long time ago when the epidemic was front and center and we were all in the middle of trying to understand Covid and its impact on all of our lives.

In the particular blog post I landed on, she was discussing how friends and family of people with mental health conditions didn’t say quite the right things and weren’t supportive in a way that was helpful. I remember commenting and asking what would be most helpful in her opinion..I felt uncomfortable asking, but also knew this was an important conversation. I don’t think she ever responded but did write more about the topic in later posts while stopping by to comment on my fledgling blog every once in awhile as well.

I would stop by her blog every so often and always find highly intelligently written posts on different aspects of mental health that were written in a way that could challenge your existing perspective and educate at the same time.

She wrote from a perspective of a health professional in psychiatry (her education and career) as well as someone with the lived experience. I don’t think I can ever truly understand the depth of how hard it was for her but I will always be grateful that she opened a window into her perspective on subjects that are often not talked about. I appreciated her support on my blog. I am sad we have lost her voice and also for all that her family must be going through.

I also want to remind anyone reading that everyone is valued and seen and even infrequent conversations in the comment section of a blog can change perspectives — so if anyone reading ever wonders whether writing a blog post or interacting for a few seconds in the comment section of a blog is meaningful and of value — it truly is.

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