For some time now I’ve been resisting some of the trends on Facebook and Instagram and In particular doing live videos and selfies. I don’t like them myself, so I’ve been thinking that because of this, that I shouldn’t subject others to them as well.

However yesterday I met a guy who I hadn’t seen for some years, and he wanted to know what I was doing now. So I filled him in on my retirement and the intention to concentrate on my writing more. Then he told me what he has been doing since he moved to the UK — and (drumroll here) he has a publishing business and has written several books. Wow — just when I’m looking at how to do more of this myself. Now I say there is no such thing as a coincidence, so perhaps it was providence that I met up with him again. But what followed was an intense lesson on how to promote my book, ways to expand on what I already have and so on. He also said that he is available to help me via zoom meetings when he returns to the UK.

Life never ceases to amaze me with all the little twists and turns. But the one stand out from our session was that if I’m resisting the Facebook lives and I have an important message, then I’m making it all about me — not the message and that is selfish. He went on to say that he believes I have a big message to share, because for one, suicide is sadly all too common now and my intention when I wrote Coping With Suicide was to help people dealing with suicide to learn how to manage their grief. Now I just need to follow up on my intention, promote my book more and look at other ways to expand my message. Simple — not really, but a challenge I’m up for and if I can help prevent at least one family from going through the anguish we did or to manage their grief in some easier way, then I have achieved what I set out to do.

Now I’m practising my Facebook lives in readiness to do them more regularly and so I don’t feel I’m looking like a total nerd. I’m also set to tackle my Twitter account and Instagram as well. So with a bit of practise, I hope to be more up with the times on my social media accounts. Big learning curve for me, but hopefully it will be some fun too. #copingsuicide #thoughtleader.