I talked to my former staff, the one I worked with for 6 years. I have checked in with her because her life is pretty messy and I know that our team at work was a big support (my ex-sup refused to give her summer hours so she didn't have any work friends). In any case she was telling me about her mom getting hurt and work came up. Apparently I was a big topic at the training this year! No wonder, I had a pretty public breakdown. Staff at the time seemed to see the stress conditions so they are not judging, and if some of them are that is not my problem. I decided to tell her about my diagnoses of bipolar 2. I know there is a huge stigma so I am not posting this on facebook or anything but it also cannot be such a secret anymore. I also talked to that former staff (the one who went to jail) when I quit. She sometimes texted my work phone and I wanted her to know that it was now in the hands of the supervisor. I decided to tell her too.
What was interesting was the very long silence and kinda shock. Not about an illness but because apparently I was the last person they expected to have this illness. My DR says I have been one of the most stable patients he has. So when I emailed and said I was not okay he really jumped on it. It was good to tell them, I told P (the long term staff) that I deal with this every day, it is not something I just took some medication for and forget about. Her response was no wonder I broke down.
So not facebook status updates, but it feels good to not be so scared about people finding out.