.006 Δ ["Anonymous" Text]
Mar. 19th, 2016 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ratherbelocky[Or, well, actually, this text isn't anonymous. It's simply that the ID number it displays doesn't match anything in anyone's previous contacts--as if someone's perhaps got his meddlesome paws on a brand new 'Gear.]
So there's a thing I've noticed, in the months I've been here. These anonymous posts, the ones asking for advice? They get a lot of answers. Seems we've got a lot of folks willing to help out around here, or at least to talk and commiserate, but it always seems to be a one-off deal; the person who's anonymous, most of us don't get to hear from them again, see how they're doing, and if we're anonymous ourselves, they can't contact us, either. It's like dancing some kind of intimate foxtrot and then never seeing your partner again.
But I found out something interesting. If you go to any Pokémon Center or PokéMart and tell them your Gear's broken or missing, they'll just hand you a new one free of charge. And if you happened to be lying, well. Then you've got an extra Gear unconnected to your main one.
What I'm saying is, there's an easy way to maintain privacy and anonymity on both ends while still checking in with someone you've spoken with before. Obviously, this is great to know for prank calls - and you're all welcome in advance for the April Fools idea - but I'd like to pose another option to those guys who want to help:
What if there were some kind of system in place for people to just talk about what's eating them multiple times with the same person, without ever having to know who's on the other line?
Now, I'm by no means a professional - not in this field, anyway. I'm not qualified to be a therapist and I haven't yet heard of anyone here who is. That's not what I'm suggesting we do here. But there are people willing to just listen, and to share their own experiences without judging, and that can be real useful to people who are working through tough things.
Here's how I'm imagining it'll work.
1. Folks who are interested in doing the listening contact me here by filling out the form at the bottom of this post. I vet them, and if it seems like it'll work out, then they grab an extra Gear, send me the number, and come up with their own codename.
2. I make a list of who's available and their numbers.
3. People looking to be listened to without exposing themselves, they contact me anonymously, and I'll redirect them to one of the folks on the list. After that first contact, they can just get to their listener directly without going through me as a middleman.
4. Conversation happens, everybody profits.
"But, mysterious and probably handsome anon," I hear you ask, "why do the people interested in helping have to out themselves to you? Who are YOU, even, to ask that and put yourself in charge of this whole thing?" And my answer is, there's got to be some accountability here when things this heavy and private are on the table, and I'm willing to be that guy. I'm also happy to reveal my identity privately to anyone who asks; I'm only maintaining anonymity here for those who don't want to know who they're talking to, for whom talking is easier like that.
Anyway. If listening to other people's problems sounds like your calling, I'd like you to fill out the following little survey:
If there's enough interest, I'll set something up within the week. In the meantime, let me know what you guys think.
And I guess you can call me Nathaniel.
So there's a thing I've noticed, in the months I've been here. These anonymous posts, the ones asking for advice? They get a lot of answers. Seems we've got a lot of folks willing to help out around here, or at least to talk and commiserate, but it always seems to be a one-off deal; the person who's anonymous, most of us don't get to hear from them again, see how they're doing, and if we're anonymous ourselves, they can't contact us, either. It's like dancing some kind of intimate foxtrot and then never seeing your partner again.
But I found out something interesting. If you go to any Pokémon Center or PokéMart and tell them your Gear's broken or missing, they'll just hand you a new one free of charge. And if you happened to be lying, well. Then you've got an extra Gear unconnected to your main one.
What I'm saying is, there's an easy way to maintain privacy and anonymity on both ends while still checking in with someone you've spoken with before. Obviously, this is great to know for prank calls - and you're all welcome in advance for the April Fools idea - but I'd like to pose another option to those guys who want to help:
What if there were some kind of system in place for people to just talk about what's eating them multiple times with the same person, without ever having to know who's on the other line?
Now, I'm by no means a professional - not in this field, anyway. I'm not qualified to be a therapist and I haven't yet heard of anyone here who is. That's not what I'm suggesting we do here. But there are people willing to just listen, and to share their own experiences without judging, and that can be real useful to people who are working through tough things.
Here's how I'm imagining it'll work.
1. Folks who are interested in doing the listening contact me here by filling out the form at the bottom of this post. I vet them, and if it seems like it'll work out, then they grab an extra Gear, send me the number, and come up with their own codename.
2. I make a list of who's available and their numbers.
3. People looking to be listened to without exposing themselves, they contact me anonymously, and I'll redirect them to one of the folks on the list. After that first contact, they can just get to their listener directly without going through me as a middleman.
4. Conversation happens, everybody profits.
"But, mysterious and probably handsome anon," I hear you ask, "why do the people interested in helping have to out themselves to you? Who are YOU, even, to ask that and put yourself in charge of this whole thing?" And my answer is, there's got to be some accountability here when things this heavy and private are on the table, and I'm willing to be that guy. I'm also happy to reveal my identity privately to anyone who asks; I'm only maintaining anonymity here for those who don't want to know who they're talking to, for whom talking is easier like that.
Anyway. If listening to other people's problems sounds like your calling, I'd like you to fill out the following little survey:
If there's enough interest, I'll set something up within the week. In the meantime, let me know what you guys think.
And I guess you can call me Nathaniel.
[text]
Date: 2016-03-20 12:32 am (UTC)1. Name Jimmy Two-Shoes
2. Age 17
3. Do you have your own support network here? Oh, totally. Not anybody from home, really, but there's a lot of people here that I'm real close to now. I could prolly talk to them about anything.
4. What sorts of things are you cool talking about? I'm willing to talk about pretty much anything, to be honest. There's a lot of things I don't know as much about, but even if I can't give much advice about it, I can still offer somebody an ear.
5. What sorts of things are you NOT cool talking about? I can't think of anything right now, but if something comes up I'll make sure to let you know.
It's real cool of you to offer to do this kinda thing, by the way. I hope it takes off!
no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 12:36 am (UTC)2. Age 18
3. Do you have your own support network here? Y
4. What sorts of things are you cool talking about? War, loss, hard decisions, abandonment, being alone, torture, PTSD
I'm okay with talking about anything, really. I guess I've been through a lot, but I'm at the point now where I can accept that all of it happened and move on.
5. What sorts of things are you NOT cool talking about? N/A
There are a lot of people my age or even younger with PTSD here, and I don't think any of them know how to cope with it. I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'd really want to set up a group with anybody like that who's willing.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 12:46 am (UTC)It's a nice idea, but I'm not sure how well it will work.
anonymous text;
Date: 2016-03-20 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 12:59 am (UTC)2. Age 17 (I think?)
3. Do you have your own support network here? Yes
4. What sorts of things are you cool talking about? War, change of species, death, aliens/monsters, torture
Pretty much anything, really.
5. What sorts of things are you NOT cool talking about? N/A I think?
[perma-anon on York's end because reasons]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 01:22 am (UTC)Hell. I'll admit, I've noticed that trend, and I'm not real happy about it.
I'll also admit that I'm almost twice that age, and I don't always know the best way to go about addressing it with the younger crowd. Are you sure you're, you know. Supported enough to set up something like that?
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:25 am (UTC)That said, I know from experience that talking can be helpful for some, and I wanted to put an option out there for the people who'd like that but can't get over the hurdle of exposing themselves.
anonymous text;
Date: 2016-03-20 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 01:32 am (UTC)Yeah! I mean, I really wanna help people out if I can, yaknow?
One time, about a year or so ago now...I was havin' a pretty big problem and ended up asking the whole Network about it. It got a lot more people answering than I was expecting, which was really nice, don't get me wrong! It was great people wanted to help, but...at the time, it was a little...overwhelming, I guess? Looking back on it, I didn't really know what to say to that many people at once.
I'm just thinking now how, if there was something like this back then, it might've been a little easier for me to start with. Just having one person to talk to, instead of everybody in Johto. Does that make sense?
[Private Audio]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:33 am (UTC)Hey, man. It's York. Figured I oughta just come clean with you for this conversation.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 01:39 am (UTC)I guess my thought is, how used are you to this sort of thing? No offense, but you're a kid, and you seem to be a pretty happy-go-lucky one. I'd hate to bring a guy like you down when you already do a lot of good making people smile, and the problems I've seen people come in with can be extreme.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:43 am (UTC)[There's a moment after that's sent that passes, and then he types out more.]
That came off more threatening than I meant it to. I just meant that you don't really know who's on the other end or what they've done. Not everyone can handle that.
[Private Audio]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:46 am (UTC)Yeah? What's up?
[Follow up questions? Something? This sounds suspiciously like 'we need to talk', which almost never goes anywhere good.]
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 01:54 am (UTC)Hah...to tell you the truth, it really takes a whole heck of a lot to bring me down. I'm not really sure why; it's always been that way.
But I also understand if you're worried about me wanting to do this. I know there's people out there who have problems that are probably dealing with stuff I don't know how to deal with...and definitely probably stuff worse than anything I've had to go through before.
[But...he doesn't just want to bow out just yet. It's ultimately "Nathaniel's" decision whether he does this or not, but-]
There's something I'm willing to tell you about, if it'll prove that I can do this. But I also would kindof prefer if...I made it private, just to you. But if not, then I'll wish you and everybody else involved luck and hope this works out either way. Does that seem fair?
[Private Audio]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:55 am (UTC)So, your support network. What's that look like?
[Private]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:57 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:59 am (UTC)Is this supposed to be a regular thing or what?
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:03 am (UTC)anonymous text;
Date: 2016-03-20 02:03 am (UTC)anonymous text;
Date: 2016-03-20 02:06 am (UTC)That's why I want people's names. So at least I can hold myself responsible for knowing who's on my team.
[Private Audio]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:08 am (UTC)There's you. There's Heather, who's been a huge help. There's...
[Well. No. Blake isn't really a support person. The people at the circus aren't really a support network.]
[... There's just dead air, and he sighs.]
... I just want to help out.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:12 am (UTC)[Private]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:15 am (UTC)That day I made that post, I asked the Network if they could tell me what "Hell" was. I found out that, in a lot of peoples' worlds, Hell is a place where people go when they die if they've been really, really bad all their lives. Like...you know. All the terrible things you could think of that a person might do for some reason or another, I guess.
I found out that day that my home is what people call Hell everywhere else. It's called Miseryville for me...which I guess should've made me think already, but I didn't know what that was back then. I'd never even heard of it, and when people told me they kept saying how it was such an awful, terrible place, full of demons and lava and fire forever...and that's exactly what home is like.
The sky's red, not blue. The ocean's made of lava. My best friend is a demon. And that also meant that I must have died, right? It kindof made sense, from there. I don't remember anything other than Miseryville. Well, I remember...some stuff. Like snow. I knew what snow was, but nobody else did. I guess I had snow back when I was alive, and remembered that somehow.
For a long time, I was really scared that I must have been a really bad person to go to Hell. I couldn't remember, so I didn't know for sure. I still don't know for sure. But...I don't think I'm a bad person. I try to do everything I can to help people, and make other people happy. It doesn't matter if I live in Hell, or Miseryville, or...wherever.
I don't want anyone else to have to ever feel the way I did. Like they don't know what to do, or who to turn to when something like that happens. Everybody deserves to have that much...at least, that's what I think.