Comments and Interaction

Dawn , Kasey, & Leah (and any who may lurk and really want to comment :),

Thank-you for your comments recently. I try to respond to all comments, unfortunately we are in the middle of moving our comments from "Intense Debate" to "Google+"  ~ So, consider this my response, as I cannot directly access your specific comments ~ 

Dawn, I loved your two cents and this is exactly the place for those thoughts! That is what My DBT Life is about, sharing and offering ideas, experiences and insight to one another. My hope is that no family has to fight mental illness alone, ever.

Many thanks to Leah for joining me in chat last month. It has been a crazy month since and we have been working hard at getting My DBT Life out for more internet visibility. I sincerely look forward to when we get more participants and we can do it more regularly!

We all know the importance of gaining strength in numbers and that is what My DBT Life's goal is, gather as many people who share a common weakness or disability and gain strength and encouragement to build a life worth living... together. 

While it certainly is your journey, it is a proven method to work together with like-minded individuals. Through the sharing of successes and failures alike, we all can learn from one another and to know that you are not alone, that these feelings, the downs and the ups are something that makes you unique and gifted but also makes you human and have something to offer someone else. 

You can offer this to someone else by sharing this site on your favorite social networks or by posting links. You can comment, ask questions, interact and then share with your friends and family. As always, lurkers are more than welcome, you can simply share the links if you cannot bring yourself to interact...yet :)  

As many of us are aware, Google is taking over the world! Ha-ha, OK, so maybe not in apocalyptic terms, but they are certainly changing the face of social media and what it means to stay connected. We, Aj and myself, feel that through Google+ we will be able to streamline the way we meet to chat, to update everyone, making comments, etc. This will be a wider reach and spread more mental health awareness by using Google+. The privacy levels are more user friendly and since SEO is part of Aj's secular work, he feels certain that Google+ is only getting started. 

What does that mean for My DBT Life's readers? As always, I will be using the blog for posts on skills, successes, failures and in generally communicating to the readers. These posts will automatically be announced on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Currently we use a forum at Lefora for reader's to post questions, share experiences etc. It is a clean, organized way of keeping topics together and a reader or poster can easily find subjects and threads that they are specifically looking for. However, there are other avenues for this, Google+ has communities, Facebook has something similar. It was our choice to use Lefora because it is one place, with a simple and free sign-up. My point in this is, just because Aj and I decided that Lefora is the best place to host the forum, doesn't mean that it is the best place. So please, if you have a better ideas, let us know! We want it to be user friendly above all. I want to create a space that people can interact, lurk if that is their comfort zone, and easily get answers.

Something that my long time readers will note, is that while I go by MJ, I was unable to use this nickname for my Google+ account, and it will list my name as Sherrie Johnson, this is in-fact my name. My middle name is Marie and I choose to go by, MJ. So, don't be alarmed if you notice the different name! No worries, I am still me :) 

Please everyone, reflect on the importance of interaction with My DBT Life, it is just as important for me to get feed back from you as it is for you to get feed back from me or other participants. We will succeed by using all of our strengths. Honestly, I find that it is difficult to keep up on a blog that I feel no one is reading. I know it sounds silly, but just because I have been fighting (and winning!) this battle with mental illness for many years, I am still insecure at times, and I still struggle with thinking that I have anything of worth to offer.

Through the many trials and many skills that I have learned, I know that those negative feelings will pass and I have something worth sharing and at the same time, so do each and everyone of you! 

Thank-you again!

~MJ

Thanks for the pic: amlivingthedream.com