Talk Saves Lives: National Suicide Prevention Week

September 6-12 is National Suicide Prevention Week.

No one likes to talk about suicide.

You can see it in the way they shift their eyes away from you when the subject comes up. You can feel the heaviness in the air between you after you say, "suicide." But we have to talk about suicide, because it happens. Every year, 41,000 Americas die because they take their own life.

41,000, because someone felt lost, alone, hopeless, scared. They are living in the dark with a burden that is too much for one person. Imagine impossible, imagine overwhelmed, imagine seeing no way out. Now imagine the difficulty of finding the strength to talk about feeling this way. Add the weight of our society's stigma with depression and inability to cope, and you can see the challenge of reaching out and asking for help. No one wants to die, but when things feel impossible and the only out is death, we can try and understand. Depression hurts like that, a crush so physical that we will consider anything for the pain to stop.

This is why we have to talk about suicide. When we talk about suicide, we open a door to let hope in. We can offer connection out of that pain and isolation and be what we should be to one another: a human being.

This is why I share my story. I shared it for only one reason, to save a life. If you ever think you don't matter, listen. If someone you know says to you in a voice that aches to be heard, that they don't feel like they belong in this world anymore, listen with them.

We are all here because we, each of us, is valuable.

When someone is ripped out of a life too soon, it's impossible for the threads they were attached to, to not feel the yank.

To hear my story, click here: http://themoth.org/posts/stories/the-candy-bar

Thank you to The Moth, for bringing the stories that need to be heard, into the world. I am forever grateful.
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For more information on learning how to talk about suicide, please visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

If you are in crisis, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

You matter so much.

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