Why Suicide Makes Sense....

...and WHY you should not do it.

You’re not crazy for thinking that if things remain bad, then you need a way out. But what if it’s not always going to be that way. “If things are going to keep being this way, I just…I don’t know if I can…” Where loneliness claws at your soul. When you just don't have the patience or the stamina to endure life.  When you don't know what to do or who to turn to. It all starts to add up, and suicide sounds like a better answer than living a life full of pain and void of hope. The fear of being a failure being so overwhelming. Being stuck in a downward spiral, and you don't know if you could make it out.

After sharing my story in a previous blog, I’ve heard story after story of people contemplating suicide. Relationships ending, futures fading, addictions spiraling, depression blooming — there are a million different stories, and while they all sound different, they all have two things in common: the first is to that person, at that moment, suicide makes sense.

If you put yourself in their shoes, if you feel the overwhelm of emotion, if you feel the numbness of loneliness, if you feel the fear of their everyday existence, if you really get it, it all makes sense. If their life today is the way their life is always going to be, I’d be thinking the same thing too. I've been there. I've thought it. I've learned from it.

If you’re in that place today, I want you to know one thing for sure: you’re not crazy. Life, in the place you’re at, is the worst it’s ever been. It feels like too much, and it sucks every day you’re in it. You’re not crazy for dreaming of ways to end the pain.

Suicide doesn’t start as the surefire strategy you’re going to employ when one thing went bad. It starts with a conditional statement, a thought that it’s an option if things stay this bad. And it ends when someone concludes that statement is the truth, and they decide to follow through.

But…everyone who allows life the chance to get better finds that it does.

The secret to sticking it out has to do with your focus. When you walk outside, looking up at the sky, it feels like every day there’s a dark cloud thundering above you. Every day is a storm. And there’s no promise of it ever leaving. It’s been here for so long — it feels like maybe this is all there is and all there’ll ever be. But what you’ve forgotten is that behind the biggest cloud, the wildest storm, the darkest day is a blue sky.

For a season, you might be in the middle of this storm, but it willpass. Zoom out from your life, see the blue skies, and remember that it’s coming. Set your focus on the clear days to come. Because those days are coming…to you. And you deserve to see it.

You can make it to better weather. You can see hope become a reality. You’ll see the clouds fade and the sun break through. You’ll feel warm light on your skin again. You’ll remember how to smile, how to laugh, how to have joy. Your time is coming. It’s just on the other end of this storm. You can make it. Allow someone to help. You're not alone. You are never alone. Reach out to people and if you see a friend going through a tough time? Make sure to let them know that you are there for them.

The forecast says that there are clear skies ahead, lend your shelter when someone is facing a storm.