Posted by Tabitha on December 20, 2002, at 0:48:15
In reply to Re: Suicidal people everywhere » Phil, posted by dreamerz on December 19, 2002, at 22:20:09
happy babble anniversary. or if not happy, then just "anniversary" to you.
i wish you'd back off from doing so much that you get burnt out. remind yourself you can't save anyone else. they have to save themselves. all you can really do is offer your presence and your empathy. and you're under no obligation to even do that. here I am, probably hoping I can save Phil from getting burnt out. cause I sure can't save myself.
my burnout arena is mostly my job though. here at babble, i don't often respond to the people in pain that seems like it might overwhelm me. I admire all the folks who can reply supportively, but I know I'll just get myself in trouble by expecting results from my efforts that I probably can't get. i personally don't have good enough boundaries to reach out to everyone.
at one point i decided I'd experiment with not replying to posts that triggered that particular anxiety. and you know what? in nearly every case, a whole bunch of other people wrote great replies. it wasn't all up to me after all.
excuse me if this is preachy or just sounds like so much b.s.
take care of yourself
poster:Tabitha
thread:33657
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20021218/msgs/33667.html