Oct 31, 2012 / Posts We Loved

What Makes a Post Freshly Press-able: I’ve made my decision

Every day, a handful of WordPress.com bloggers are featured in Freshly Pressed. Each week, we take a close look at one post and why we thought it was Press-worthy.
____________________________________________

This past week, the author of I’ve made my decision humbled us with the sheer courage it took to share the most personal of confessions: the choice to end their life.

The post made us think differently

The author of bipolarblogging.wordpress.com is a 50-something person who writes candidly about their struggles living with Bipolar Disorder. The language is plain, direct, unadorned, and above all, human:

I decided I didn’t want to live.

The blogger relates the depth of their despair in careful, reflective detail: the cyclical inability to engage at work, to find satisfaction in leisure time, and their diminished appetite, energy, and motivation to live. What struck us most is the silence with which the blogger endures the pain of depression. It made us stop and reflect: how many people have we encountered in our lives who have seemed distant or distracted, who weren’t quite themselves? What was really going on? How can we and how must we react differently when we sense something wrong?

English author Graham Greene once said:

Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.

Through the process of writing, bipolarblogging.wordpress.com’s author realizes their death would devastate the ones that they love. The simple act of writing brought clarity and planted the seeds of hope. The blogger’s strength and courage are inspiring:

My life is hard, and is about to get harder, but it is life after all. As hard as it may be, it’s still better than the alternative. If I can only hold on I have to believe it will get better. I’ve survived worse, and I can survive this. I have to, for myself and for those I love.

I have decided I want to live.

Did this post resonate with you? Will you follow bipolarblogging.wordpress.com? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Show Comments

78 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  1. I feel as though writing is therapeutic and is a great way to get stuff off your chest and out of your mind. I think the mind at times can be a jail cell keeping us worrying, doubting, or feeling bad. Writing allows a release that is healthy and fun.

    Like

  2. I started a blog a few days ago upon discovering WordPress because of my deep sorrow over the loss of my precious son to suicide. Suicide is the fatal result of an all too misunderstood illness. A mother will go all the way back to the womb to try and understand what happened to her child….why this?

    Like

  4. It is so important that people get a chance to get the word out about depression. So many people suffer from it silently and if writing blogs can get the word out it is wonderful. Thank you!

    Like

  6. I’m currently completing my senior year at Harvard University. But I’ve suffered with anxiety, depression, and ADHD since 5th grade. I’ve had many suicide attempts to escape the pain of mental illness since it’s created indefinite roadblocks. I never talk about my struggles– to enjoy the gratification of being professional and productive!

    Although my blog is about well-curated style and not my personal heartache; writing, retaining loyal followers and receiving positive responses– give me an impetus to conquer and cope with my emotions, especially in Harvard’s hyper-competitive environment!

    Like

    1. Hi Prince,

      Welcome to WordPress!

      Each day, the WordPress.com Story Wranglers scour WordPress.com sites looking for great content on a variety of subjects. When we find a post we like, we “bump” it to Freshly Pressed. When you’re logged in to WordPress.com, and visit http://wordpress.com/#!/fresh/ you’ll be able to read the posts we’ve chosen to highlight for other readers.

      You can follow @freshly_pressed on Twitter to keep up on what we’re sharing.

      We look for strong, thoughtful writing and great photography in the posts that we highlight for Freshly Pressed. The Daily Post blog offers some tips on how to make the most of your WordPress site, writing prompts to help you get started, and we also share our thoughts on why we chose to feature a post on Freshly Pressed ever so often in the What makes a post Freshly Press-able series.

      Like

      2. Krista, please! You can give a better answer than: “When we find a post we like, we “bump” it to Freshly Pressed.” That’s one of the criticisms people often make of Freshly Pressed — that the decisions seem to be made casually, with no rhyme or reason. Some pretty weak posts have been on Freshly Pressed, consistently over the years.

        I’m trying to criticize positively. I’m one of WordPress’s biggest fans. I’ve been on WordPress since 2007 and I look at Freshly Pressed and many blogs, sometimes almost obsessively. (And I’ve been Freshly Pressed.)

        Matt has created something amazing out of nothing. I understand that WordPress continues to improve constantly, but with a relatively limited staff.

        I’m in awe of the power and functionality of the WordPress blogging system. Anyone can use it for free and potentially reach the world. I love the wide selection of themes.

        Freshly Pressed continues to confound many loyal WordPress readers. The posts displayed on Freshly Pressed are a handful out of several hundred thousand posts every day, several million every week. Please tell me that random WordPress staffers don’t simply “bump” posts they like to Freshly Pressed.

        Human beings can’t possibly make a fair or even a representative selection from so much material. Please tell me that WordPress has a system (probably computer software) which selects a number of posts from each of a wide variety of categories. Maybe 20 each from 50 different categories, based on some basic computerized criteria to select for quality of writing and content. Quality of writing should be one, but not the ONLY criteria, because that would exclude too many novice writers and too much valuable subject matter.

        20 posts X 50 categories = 1,000 posts. That’s still a lot. But one or several
        well-rounded and experienced editors could sift through that many and make a selection of truly exceptional posts based on something more than personal whim.

        Sorry to be so windy, and please don’t take this as anything but friendly feedback.

        Like

    2. Hi John,

      I did mention this in my reply:

      We look for strong, thoughtful writing and great photography in the posts that we highlight for Freshly Pressed.

      I did say that we bump posts that we like — and I could have been more specific about making the connection that when we like something, it’s because of the strong, thoughtful, writing and great photography we see. Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate them. It’s passionate, loyal readers / readers like you who make the WordPress community so worthwhile.

      Like