How 7 Cups Not Only Lifted Me Up, But Let Me Fly

My story as a thriving, happy 7 Cups listener with a strong sense of purpose began as that of a lost, lonely member—as a slow journey upward after the biggest hit to my mental health I ever took—COVID. From the start of the coronavirus pandemic to the end of my freshman year of high school two years later, depression and anxiety followed me like twin shadows—not always easily noticeable, but hidden behind every move I made. I did my best to smile for my friends and keep a straight face for my family, but the hopeless thoughts secretly worsened every day and underlied everything in my life subtly but surely, like the backbeats of a lonely, melancholy song. Sometimes entrenching myself in the bottomless, stressful pit of my responsibilities and schoolwork would help numb the pain by forcing me to focus on something else, but as soon as the work was done, so was the evading. The feelings would come crashing back like a tsunami, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fight them off.

I suffered in silence and cried under the cover of night for what felt like the longest and most unbearable eternity of my life, only opening the great, heavy door to my secret room of darkness and vulnerability to show some of my closest friends. But all of them had their own stresses and lives to live. They couldn’t be there for me forever. At the end of the day, it was me that was going to have to take initiative for my own mental health.

I scoured the whole internet for something that could be of help—something that would be free due to my family’s financial situation, easily accessible, and genuinely helpful. But the vision eventually seemed too good to be true, as I discovered site after site of either crazily high prices or absentee helpers. I was about to give up and curse my naïvity for believing that finding help would be this easy and turn out with such a good result. I didn’t even want a “therapist”, per se, just someone who was willing to listen to me who I wouldn’t feel bad or scared talking to. My skepticism of online help and fear of getting myself into trouble on the internet only heightened my anxiety even more.

Then, I found this website that introduced 7 Cups as a “free of cost mental health site that offers prompt emotional support” and I was amazed. To begin with, I believed it to be a scam or too good to be true, but I decided to give it a try anyway and just see what it was about. I googled 7 Cups of Tea—in the “Private” browser of my Safari because deep down, I was still insecure about needing help back then—created a member account, and sent a general chat request.

I sat there for several minutes, waiting for someone to pick up my chat with guilt fastly filling my heart. 5 minutes in, I began feeling like I was just going to end up just wasting the time of whoever my listener was going to be and draining them by venting about my problems. I was just about to call off my chat request, when it got accepted by my first listener. I suddenly felt stuck and questions began swarming in my head, buzzing frantically like bees. What should I even say? How do I talk about my life to a stranger I’ve never met before? What if I ruin their day by talking about negative stuff?

But as soon as my listener gave me a warm welcome and told me that they were there for me, it was like a switch flipped inside of my mind. It finally registered to me that there were people out there in the world who wanted to help me—who didn’t know me, but knew what I was going through. And somehow, that feeling was just as good as confiding in a best friend. It felt just as valid, and just as beautiful.

All it took was this one conversation with this single listener that convinced me that 7 Cups truly was a genuine, positive place, and that the community was full of supportive people. And as someone who always loved helping people and making sacrifices for others, I decided to join 7 Cups of Tea as a listener, less than a few weeks after my first chat with my first listener.

In the beginning, navigating the community was sort of confusing and frustrating, but before long, I fell in love with the connectivity and togetherness I felt with all of the members I talked to, the fun in posting in forums about all of my personal interests and well wishes for others, and how easy the community made it to be vulnerable and understood. It took me only a few days of clicking around to witness all the kindness and compassion being passed around the world to people of all different races, religions, sexualities, genders, and situations, capable with the power of technology.

Thank you 7 Cups for all that you do. You are such a positive force in the world and I thank you for existing and serving so many people.