ECT and D&D

[Just Rob]

Guys,

With the passing of Robin Williams yesterday and details that have come up with what is known of his death, I wanted to share something that may have passed common understanding among the guys.

Robin Williams according to information disclosed today committed suicide due to an extremely difficult bout of depression he had been going through recently. He had gone this way fairly often due to the fact of his being bipolar and having many up and down times that affected his mood and general outlook on life. Not everyone is familiar with what bipolar as a mental illness does to you, but it really brings you up and down a lot. For many people, it makes them so down at times that suicide looks like the only option. For those people, medication, counseling, ECT, and suicide prevention centers are the only real hope to turn those feelings around and help the affected person not look at suicide as the only real way out. It can be really dark and even with knowing that there are friends and loved ones around, it can seem like you are all alone in your depression and your way of looking at life can get really messed up. It is sad to hear about people who get this way, but it is very possible.

I have Bipolar II. I have had it for a few years now. There have been really down times as well as some up times that make my outlook on life get messed up sometimes. There is one thing that helps me out of this problem that you guys probably don't realize. It is the monthly D&D game that we get together to play. Knowing that for one Friday a month I will be able to get together with 4 of my best friends to play a game that brings me back to a peaceful and fair frame of mind makes a big difference for me. I am able to make it through some of my depressions and realize they are only temporary when I know that we will be able to set things aside for a brief time and play characters (RPG) of our choosing that let us play something different for a while on one night a month really helps me in my illness to stay solid for a while better than I can do just on my own. Our reserving time once a month to play D&D is thus not selfish or only attentive to our own needs as 5 guys separate from our families, work, and other pressing needs - it helps one of us make it through from month to month in a real and specific way. Thus, I want to share this benefit that comes to me from associating with you all and help you see in case you have missed recognizing the blessing that comes from our being together when we can. I know that other things come up, but I wanted to plant a seed that can present a real blessing besides the fun and just letting our difficulties pass for a short time, but something that also keeps me out of the newspapers and lets me come upon ideas that let me not consider the dark ways in life but follow the good, positive ways that comes from your sacrifice of one night a month in the endeavor of keeping the group together and having fun that we each can look forward to.

What I am trying to say here is that if it is at all possible to find a single day one evening a month that we can put aside the difficulties of the world, your doing so every month will be a concrete benefit to someone with an illness who otherwise might not be able to find as easy a solution to his difficulties without that help that comes from being with you. I know it can't always happen and there will be some months that it just isn't possible to find the time, but if you can keep in mind as you are searching your schedule for the month that there is one of us who derives specific benefit from this time together, it will be a great help in ultimately finding a month-to-month resolution to help control and ease out of the depressions that ultimately come and seek to control my life. Seeing the news-waves filled with details about Robin Williams - a funny guy who loved to make people laugh but had difficulty finding his own laughter - and making me able to vow to never follow his example in this way due to the help that comes from being with friends and loved ones who help keep me from considering what he did; gives me hope and I can't place enough value on that hope.

So please keep looking at your calendars, even amid all the challenges and difficulties you face, and see if you can find just ONE night that you can sacrifice that will benefit both you and someone you know, and let's see if we can keep this going at least a little bit longer in our lives. Thanks for reading my looooonnnnnnngggggg post!

Rob

[Greylen]

Hey buddy, I know how much our monthly nights mean to you. They mean a lot to me as well. So we'll all just keep truckin' down the road together.

[Boric Glanduum]

Rob--What Lorin said, x2. Wouldn't give it up for the world.