[Faith-Talk] serving and connection and closing thoughts about involvement

[Misty Kienzynski]

Weirdly, his WhatsApp number isn’t working for me.

I remember he said that he works best with voice, so I tried this way.

Andrew or anyone, if y’all could help me with whatever’s going on with this, that’d be great.

If I don’t hear here (hear here, hehehehehehehehehehe), I’ll try and contact him off-list via e-mail initially.
—Misty, your friendly neighborhood non-techie …and horrible humorist:)



Bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem. — L. Annaeus Seneca


> On Aug 12, 2024, at 5:11 PM, Linda Mentink via Faith-Talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Misty,
> 
> Welcome! I'm glad that you, too, decided not to lurk:
> 
> I think that contacting Andrew privately is a GREAT idea. He's better one-on-one. I wrote him this morning, and he apologized. I accepted his apology, of course.
> 
> Blessings,
> 
> Linda
> 
> 
>> On Aug 12, 2024 3:58 PM, Misty Kienzynski via Faith-Talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Greetings.
>> 
>> I am a recent member of this list and, up ‘til now, entirely a lurker.
>> 
>> However, I would like to contribute a few quick things.
>> 
>> First, I am at least somewhat familiar with what depression can do to a person in terms of emotional state, self-esteem and motivation. Admittedly, this is not because I am clinically depressed myself, but one of my closest (sighted) friends struggles with low-grade clinical depression on a daily basis along with bouts of more serious depression. I have also read up on the subject so as to better understand him as well as others I know, both blind and sighted, who struggle with the condition.
>> 
>> Depression can lie to you. Depression can cause you no longer to want to live. Depression makes you feel like you don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. Depression can tell you that you are not enough, that you are worthless, etc. etc. This is not something that is easily controlled or controlled at all. Sans miraculous divine intervention, it is not something that can simply be prayed out of existence. It must be understood, empathized with, worked with on its level, where it is. People who struggle with depression must be understood and worked with where they are.
>> 
>> Finally, I know that we are very often told that feelings mean nothing. This almost seems to be an article of faith within so many of our communities. However, I would beg to differ. Emotions do mean something. We live in a fallen world and so-called “negative emotions” are a perfectly understandable response to this fallen world. It is OK not to be OK. I will say it again - it is OK not to be OK. (Of course I mean this in reference to typical emotional balance.) I really wish we would stop denying ourselves by denying our emotions. It is neither authentic nor healthy nor helpful to so many of us who feel alone in these so-called “negative emotions”.
>> 
>> I have seen some very judgmental and, I would argue, un-Christian responses to this person who is struggling mightily and apparently has been struggling mightily for some time now.
>> 
>> I just thought some folks on this list could use a little depression primer, because it seems that this could be a lot of our OP’s challenge.
>> 
>> I know I plan to reach out personally to him myself instead of waiting for him to do so, given what I understand about depression and lack of motivation.
>> —
>> 
>> Misty K. — your friendly neighborhood INFJ/empath
>> 
>> Bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem. — L. Annaeus Seneca
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