this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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Mental Health

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I don’t know why I’m posting this. Maybe I’m hoping for some epiphany or for someone to point to a way out I’ve missed though I’m certain that’s not going to happen. 

I’m watching the Nazis rise again in my country. I never supported them. Not now, not in earlier incarnations that lead to this. They rose anyway. 

I got out of homelessness. I got a college education, though admittedly not in anything useful. I’ve never committed a crime aside from speeding. I’ve always played by the rules, even when they were unfair to me. I believed we had to cooperate with eachother, debate, struggle along to arrive at something more honest, a compromise that would better serve more people in the long run. But that only works if both sides are playing the same game by the same rules. The Nazis aren’t. I bettered myself as best I could. They didn’t. And they are winning.

I know what’s coming next.  I understand that great violence is coming. I fear I will not survive. I fear my friends will not survive. My siblings and nieces and nephews will not survive, or worse, the young will grow up in such chaos that it becomes normal to them to operate that way. That safety and respect become nothing more than stories from a primitive culture that existed long ago.

I’m gay. Im liberal. I’m an atheist. I’m outspoken. I’m poor. I’m honest. These are traits that are not desirable in the new country forming around me and they will be punished. 

I’m not changing myself to make Nazis comfortable. They are just going to have to kill me. And they will. 

Recently a friend was concerned about me and invited me out with others. We were out at a gay bar. A petition was going around gathering signatures to fight Ohio’s plans to reinstate a ban on gay marriage. They won’t stop there. I know they want us removed. And they have many ways of erasing me quite effectively. It ruined the evening seeing another loosing game being played. Ohio didn’t listen to its voters before, and America sure as hell won’t let them start now. I’m watching these people play the game as if they are setting things up for a victory tomorrow. People are already being disappeared. These people won’t be around to fight this tomorrow.

I signed the petition anyway. I might be wrong. Maybe this little bit will help if I am wrong. But I also felt that by increasing my visibility even this much, I’m increasing my risk. It is foolish to expect my state or country to handle opposition respectfully. But compliance with the regime just makes it more difficult for those strong and brave enough to fight back so on behalf of them, I signed my death certificate. I won’t likely win, but I won’t make it easy for them to silence me either. 

When I lost my last job I lost health care and lost my psych meds and treatment. I went through withdrawal while working a retail job that wasn’t actually paying the bills but I had to keep trying. Now I have a better job and health coverage again but I cannot afford to go back on medication. RFK has already stated what he plans to do to people receiving psych medications. If he simply takes those meds away, I’ll go through withdrawal again and will likely lost my job as I’ll be unable to function while my neurochemistry readjusts. I literally can’t take the risk to better myself. My family and friends have noticed. They are worried. I can’t even see a therapist because I can’t afford one. Besides, the Trump regime has expressed opinions on enslaving people for that too. 

I got a small windfall from this years tax return. I spent it all immediately on little tech project distractions for myself. I use them as puzzles to put my focus into. I dare not hold onto enough money to buy a gun while in this state. 

I cannot survive like this much longer. If my country doesn’t kill me, I might do it myself just to get away. 

I can’t afford to immigrate to another country. I have no money. I have no unique and in-demand skills. I only speak one language. And I’m an American in 2025. No one would want me in their country anyway and I can’t say I’d blame them for that.

I can’t keep stalling. I don’t know what to do next but doing nothing will most certainly lead to my demise.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hi friend. I want you to know you are not alone. I am on the other side of the planet, but I know it's coming here. Parts are already here and I'm terrified. Our billionaires are wooing Trump and Elon already, along with elements of the political class. I'm recovering from a breakdown and privileged enough to be able to get the help I need to work through this. I still am. It's hard. I want to end it all at times. But you know what? Fuck these Nazis and fascist.

I'm now working my hardest to live. I want to live. I want to love. I want my friends, family and my community to be happy. These people are trying to take that away from us. Connect with your friends, family, and community members. Try your best, I know I am. I hope I can show everyone else what is happening and make change for the better. I am terrified of retaliations and what they might do to me and my family, but I won't stop, because then they have already won.

Community friends and family I believe is how we will stop this. Get people out of the algorithm. Try your best. Love yourself.

I hope you find peace and happiness.

Love and best wishes, from Australia.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I was unaware Australia had fallen too! I’m so sorry to hear that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You’re not alone there’s a whole lot of us out here with you and you’re important to the resistance. I 100% relate to a lot of what you said and I felt every bit of your pain in what you had to say. The truth is we(the resistance) needs you. ❤️🖤

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Nobody needs me. I’m a drain.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

So through talking here and in talking to friends in what’s left of the real world, I’ve decided moving to Oregon with my friends might be a healthy choice for me. There are a few obstacles I need to overcome first though.

First, I need to have a job ready for me.

Second, debt consolidation fucked my credit rating harder than I thought it would. I’m at 592 now, down from 806! Won’t finding a landlord with that rating be difficult?

Third, I have to fund relocating across an entire country.

So one step at a time. I need to find a job where I’m going. I have IT helpdesk experience and have been the go to computer guy for years in my area, especially with the elderly crowd. (I have most of them on Linux now since it REALLY fucks with scammers and lets them get more life out of older equipment.) Currently I’m doing call center medical insurance work from home but I can’t take the job with me. I’ve worked for a few places, including a county IT job where I completely changed their process for deploying new systems and put them way ahead of schedule. I’m adaptable and good with people and just really want to make things better for people. Coworkers like me. Customers adore me. I need to find a way to channel that into a job on the other side of the country.

Anyone know a guy?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Hey! I know a guy, because he is me. I'm making a similar move to escape the south. I'll dm you a little more detail to see if I can help.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Second, debt consolidation fucked my credit rating harder than I thought it would. I’m at 592 now, down from 806! Won’t finding a landlord with that rating be difficult?

If you find a roommate, maybe you could pay part of their rent without a credit check.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Finding a roommate will be incredibly difficult especially from here. I couldn’t even find a roommate here in Ohio.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You mentioned friends where you're moving to. Could they help with a place to stay, either as a roommate with them, or helping you find a roommate with someone else they know?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Already in discussion but not really progressing.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

do not kill yourself. fight evil instead

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I appreciate what you’re saying but I can’t just start killing Nazis. My options are limited.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

you always have more options than you realize, and as your fellow gay you also have more allies than you realize

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago

We are nearly exact opposites. I am a married old dude with plenty of kids. Financially stable.

MAGA creeps me the fuck out. Give it an election cycle to clear up. Historically shit ALWAYS goes bad when Republicans sweep elections like this ... these "conservative" assholes got control of the government and started the great depression. It always swings back to liberal control.

If it doesn't and peaceful measures stop working or become illegal then we will have to fix it utilizing the Second Amendment. We are going to need you beside us.

That's it. If you are going to hit "fuck it" ... make sure the time is appropriate.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I think our background is similar and I feel you. One thing I think I learned recently is that there are artist communes out there in the middle of nowhere in probably every US state disconnected from everything except a small likely poor communities which are self-sufficient and focused on art. They range in size from a couple people to larger communities.

A bunch of people just get together to buy some cheap land or something and do this. The idea appealed to me a bit. Leaving the rat race and just subsisting and disconnecting.

Hard times like this will come and go. You can fight if you want and more power to you or you can isolate with a group of like-minded people and stay safe that way until things get better. Or you can think about it as saving your energy both mental and physical for when you have an opportunity to take action that actually makes a difference.

Mental health is health and you need to take care of it. Just like it's bad for your body to eat tons of junk food, never exercise, take addictive drugs, etc. It's bad for your mind to constantly ingest bad news when there isn't anything you can do about it for now.

Stop reading social media and the news and turn inwards to focus on things that bring you joy. If you have art or creative endeavors turn to those. Try to avoid hobbies that take too much money and find things you can do cheaply so you don't do things like blow your tax return (financial health is another thing and you should be creating an emergency fund with any extra money you find right about now).

Here are some examples on the cheaper side I enjoy: watercolor, bookbinding, knitting, sketching, etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I can’t afford to eat. An entire paycheck goes to rent. Half the month I have family buying my groceries. There is no room for joy in my life because I can’t afford it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

That's really tough man. This is where I think these small communities might really help though. They are mostly people living in tiny homes and vans or something with almost no housing costs. So they can afford to focus on their art.

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