I called the suicide hotline tonight

I haven’t called them in 9 years. Last time I did it
was horrible, they were rude and dismissive and
hung up in my face.

This time was a lot different. I was connected with
a counselor who specialized in LGBT issues
(which is adjacent to my struggles) and she really
helped.

I could tell they were following a script, but I got
her to break out of the script for a bit and have
more of a human-to-human connection. It
honestly felt nice hearing an older, more
professional-sounding voice talk to me, and listen
to what I had to say.

I cried to her for about 30 minutes and that felt
nice. Sometimes an ear is all you need. I got off
the phone with a huge sense of relief. She pulled
me back to earth tonight.