Man who tweeted ‘I am not ok’ receives thousands of responses from around the world

Edmund O’Leary shared a simple message on Twitter over the weekend, reaching out for people to say hello, little did he know how far his message would go.

Edmund caught international attention after tweeting about his mental health during the pandemic.

After living alone throughout the entire pandemic, Edmund found himself feeling rock bottom so he took to Twitter to reach out to people, he wrote: “I am not ok. Feeling rock bottom. Please take a few seconds to say hello if you see this tweet. Thank you.”

He has been flooded with support from people all across the world, and his Tweet has racked up over 100,000 replies. 

Edmund appeared on This Morning earlier today to discuss the aftermath of his tweet which he revealed has been ‘phenomenal’.

Ruth asked Edmun what led him to the tweet, he said: “On Friday I was feeling very depressed, I was feeling more and more depressed as the hours were passing, feeling very isolated, and I just felt there wasn’t much more I could take, and I just reflected on a friend of mine on Twitter, a Twitter friend that has mental health problems.

“Sometimes he tweets before he goes to bed ‘says hi if theres anyone out there who can say goodnight’, I always acknowledge his tweet”.

“I was just thinking if it works for him it may work for me.”

Edmund said he’s had so many private messages too. He added: “I’ve had many men send me private messages as well as normal tweets to say that they could not do what I did.

“They just don’t have the courage to do so, and they said you’re a courageous man for doing so. They were applauding me.

Edmund then offered some heartfelt advice to people, in particular men, who are struggling with mental health problems: “Try to reach out for help, don’t feel alone, we are in for a pretty awful winter by all accounts, so reach out for help, reach out to loved ones, seek medical help if necessary.”

If you are feeling lonely in the pandemic or need help with your mental health, head to Every Mind Matters for more support or information.