Everybody has a story; not everybody shares it.

This is a part of a project to try and promote empathy. 

It’s hard to remember, especially online, that there are real people on the other side of every conversation you have, every comment you post, and every message you send, and that very often we do not know the things that these other people are going through. 

I am in the process of creating a video project as a public service announcement to try and promote people to speak kinder to one another. And I need your help! I would like to do this by getting real stories that people have gone through that have affected them but which they have not shared with friends or peers or followers online. 

These stories will be compiled and read in front of a camera, along with a message reminding people that the conversations they have with people every day are influenced by the private stories everybody is living. The message will be something along the lines of…

Every story will be presented anonymous. Please come and submit here in a single sentence one thing you are going through that people who only know you online are probably unaware of. Some examples are as follows:

Please come send in your confession here. Please keep it to one sentence if you can. Feel free to submit more than once. Please click on anonymous. 

Please help raise awareness for this project and come and anonymously share your story! 

Thank you!

Hello everyone. 

This is a project I have been in the process of making since early December, and it really means a lot to me.

As you’re all probably aware, cyberbullying is something that I feel really strongly about. Beyond just cyberbullying, just the general cruelty that is so rampant in our society today, especially on social media and websites such as tumblr. The internet is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it just becomes a breeding ground for malicious behavior and I’d like to do my part in trying to stop that or at least make people more aware of their own words and actions. 

I’ve started this blog as step one of a video project, and I would really appreciate if you guys could spread the word and send in your stories. In many ways, it’s a lot like what people do here on roleplayerscoffeeshop. Anonymously share a fact about yourself that your followers or friends or family do not know but that has weighed down on you in your life. It could be a story you are currently fighting through or something you have gone through in the past. Anything that has affected you in some way and that has made your days harder.

As stated above, the confessions will remain completely anonymous but they will be read aloud in a video project. 

Please share this link and encourage people — even off tumblr — to come and share their story for this empathy project. I truly believe we have a chance here to make our corner of the world a slightly better, slightly kinder, slightly more empathetic place. 

Thank you for your support and please share this link and come to the blog and share your stories.

Winston Churchill (via coffee-study-sleep-repeat)

I think I need to address something of importance, because it’s happened to me a lot on this blog in the past, but I also fear it’s also happening to other roleplayers.

While roleplay is an escape, a place for you to have fun or relax, an enjoyable hobby, it is also a community of real live human beings. I say this because of the amount of message I receive, that I never publish, about people asking me for help with their mental illness or suicidal thoughts.

I am not a medical professional nor do I claim to be one. Roleplayers are also not medical professionals. Unless someone is specifically disciplined, professionally trained in that area of medical expertise, it is safe to assume that they are not a counselor, psychologist, etc. This is really important to keep in mind, and for my own sake too. Reaching out to people is okay, but when you make it an every day event and there is no longer roleplay involved, there’s a problem. That’s when you need to seek professional help. Call a hotline. There is help out there for you.

I bring this up because it can be extremely taxing on me when I’m not able to give the right answers, or don’t know what to do or say. It begins to interfere with my own mental health and mood, which is not something I need on top of my other daily issues.

I want to stress that reaching out is okay. Talking to your friends about your problems is also okay, but when it’s constant, consider the fact that your roleplay partner also has their own woes and worries, too.

As roleplayers, we don’t have all the answers. We don’t always know what to do or say when someone is having a crisis. If you are indeed in a crisis, you really need to seek professional help of some sort. There are resources out there to help you.

Please just keep this in mind for yourself and for others when you are having issues that may require professional help and not just the listening ear of a roleplay partner/friend.

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." - Bill Cosby

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." - Bill Cosby

This place may be a virtual world, but my feelings are very real. I’ve learned one thing while living here. And that’s to never give up and keep fighting until the very end. If we ever return to the real world, I’ll definitely find you and fall in love with you all over again.

I’ve been very discouraged lately because I feel like one of my closest friends has stopped caring about me and I feel like the very mention of our muses’ ship disgusts them. I feel like they don’t want to roleplay with me because they don’t care about me as a friend anymore.

Nothing is more beautiful than a Warrior Woman in action.

"Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose." - Tom Krause

"Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose." - Tom Krause