A hint I was given which helped me was to ask "is this a good time to talk", when I called someone, or "do you have 10 minutes to talk?". Then I would know that I had done my bit in making sure I was not bothering people or taking up their time. I would stick to my 10 minutes, but make sure I asked if it was OK to talk longer. They can then be responsible for their part....

I know that feeling. I would only talk to someone who I know will listen.

Yes all the time, so I try to rotate who I talk to, and usually talk to my Thai friends who won't tell anyone else what I've talked about, most of them are very nice people, but you do get the odd rogue, I had the misfortune of meeting one, but he was good to talk to, but when I felt like I was loosing it he affirmed it instead of telling me that I'm wrong and that it's just my mind playing tricks on me, turned out he was using me for money, but never mind I have some very good trustworthy Thai friends in my life too, he is now out of my life, when I go to Thailand I like to go see the psychiatrists there at the Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Mai they are very good and very patient, I can talk to them about anything, and the staff and inpatients at the state Psych hospital that I had to spend a night at during my last holiday, I also very much like talking to the monks there, who speak a little English, it's harder if I have to use Thai, I can but my Thai speech is very broken, my written Thai is apparently very good for a foreng, but I'm not your average foreng, I love buddhism, and the meditation, peace quiet and calm it brings me, maybe you could try talking to one of the monks from Plum Village in France if you feel like you're bothering people, they have an android app with email contact, they're also on YouTube and many other places they are very patient, and make you feel at ease, less like you're bothering them, than I find regular people, you don't have to follow Buddhism or be religious to talk to them, they will listen and offer a friendly reminder of how to be kind to yourself, how to get back to positivity etc x x x 😊 And of course stay here and there is a Covid-19 and Mental Health Support Group on Facebook too that is a very good friendly community that is also very active and there are always people to talk to 😊

If I feel like I'm bothering people I'll try to meditate and then try to reflect on my own thoughts and they're validity, and if I still can't get bad thoughts out of my head I'll write them in Thai and post them in pictures so my non Thai reading friends can't be bothered by it, and any of my Thai friends only if they feel they want to can offer me help or ideas on how to overcome that feeling X x

I hope it helps just a little to know you're not alone with that feeling, but there are strategies you can use to overcome it 😊

One way I overcome it is to use an elastic band on my hand wrist or foot to shock myself away from that feeling only if all else fails X x

Just remember we are here to listen

I used to feel this way often. I didn't want to be a burden to my family and friends. As it turns out, they were the ones who encouraged me to talk about it with them. Each one has told me they want to help me, but they don't know how. This provides them with a way to help. They know that they can't fix it, but they also know that by NOT keeping it all inside, I do feel relief from our talks. Sometimes we don't even actually talk, but we text and e-mail. I isolate myself so much when I am really depressed that these ways of staying in contact are so important.