Sometimes you need a bunny with glasses

This week I checked my mail box and inside was a bunny card. That alone was enough to make me smile, but out fell out a tiny gift as well.

It’s been a hard few months and this simple act of unexpected kindness, reaching out, made me remember that I’m loved. That I’m not alone. I am valued. Maybe it seems silly, but sometimes I need to be reminded.

Other days, it’s been a text message. Or an email. Or a post card. Or a meal made and dropped off. Or a parcel in the post office box from a kind reader, with a little something for Poss to make her smile.

Other times it’s just been the simple act of being asked “are you ok?”

I guess I’m lucky, if you can call it that;  I’m surrounded by people who intimately know the depths of mental illness, they speak the language. They know the signs and they know what to look for. They know what to say next if I answer the question with more than a ‘fine thanks’.

Not everyone is that lucky. I know that. I also know that even if sometimes you do have people who know what to say next, that it doesn’t really help. That sometimes, for some people, nothing really helps, no matter what anyone else does.

Sometimes you just need a bunny in glasses; other times you will need more. Some days you won’t get an answer when you ask, that doesn’t mean you should stop asking, or showing your support in other ways.

But talking about it, whether it’s today on RUOK day, or just on any day really, should only be the start of the conversation.

It shouldn’t ever be the end.

Note – if you want more information on R U OK Day or wanted some more information on anxiety or other mental health issues, check out the Beyond Blue website here.