It's World Suicide Prevention Day today (which holds a BIG, SPECIAL place in my heart) & I don't know where to start...well maybe I do. A fact was brought to my attention recently in one of the posts on TWLOHA.com: that the suicide rate in America alone has risen 24% between 1999 and 2014- Think about that. The stigma surrounding mental illness HAS to end. I want you- my followers, to know that you shouldn't feel like you can't talk about how you feel/if you're hurting/etc. I want you to talk about it. Talk about it to me, or someone close to you that you trust. One thing I realized with mental illness is that it doesn't get better if you DONT say something. Keeping it all bottled inside will only allow it to get worse. I think it's important to say that I don't care who you are... I love you and care about you. I want to be a light for people. I want to show people that things do get better. It takes a while, doesn't happen over night, which is HORRIBLY aggravating and not motivating at all...but it does get better, I'm not just saying that. It wasn't until last year that I finally realized I needed to do something about my anxiety/panic attacks/the random onset of depression that also led me to self harm or id get worse. I talked. I finally said something to leaders of a youth group type thing with my boyfriend who then convinced me to talk to my mom...(and don't get me wrong... talking about it isn't easy, but I managed to somehow get the confidence I needed to let someone other than a close friend or my boyfriend know that I was hurting) and that was MY first step to getting better. I was on an anti depressant for a month but hated it, got off of it, got some counseling, didn't help in the way I wanted it to, BUT it was a start. I also talked to a counselor at the school I went to and figured out how to transfer to an online school, and then starting the second semester last year, I began at an online school. It's been about 11 months since I went to the doctor for depression/anxiety // talked to people close to me about everything going on and I think I'm doing okay. I mean I'm doing better than I was this time last year. I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say I'm happy all the time because I'm not. It's 11 months later and I still get anxiety a lot, and I still have panic attacks.... And I'm not sure that will ever go away, I'm just learning new ways to cope or new ways to deal with the anxiety/panic. And through all of this, I've realized how amazing our God really is. #IKeptLiving because I know God put me on this earth for a reason- with a plan in mind for my life. I may not know exactly all of what His plan for my life is right now, but I know it'll be worth it. I'm sharing my (rather long) story so that I can be an example- for others who are hurting and for others who aren't sure about life anymore. I want people to see that it isn't bad or wrong to talk about these things. In fact it's bad NOT to talk. And it's even worse to make people feel like they shouldn't be able to talk about it. Please keep talking about these things. My main goal with this post is to not only spread awareness of these things like WSPD/mental illness/TWLOHA/ETC/ETC but it's also to be a light for someone- to help inspire someone to say something/ to get help... or to inspire someone to inspire someone else to get help... We can end the stigma on mental illness. This can be your first step.
