More than 105 people completed suicide in the U.S. yesterday. More than 105 the day before that, and more than 105 the day before that. More than 105 people will take their lives today.
For every one of the 105 people who kill themselves, there are at least three-to-five times that who are left behind wondering why this happened and what else could they have done to prevent this.
That’s on the conservative side of the scale.
We lose a brother, a mother, a father, a cousin, a sister, an aunt, a friend. We lose a piece of ourselves that we can never get back when we lose somebody to suicide.
Today, I ask that you take a couple minutes out. Look at the picture above: This is somebody I lost to suicide, and for many of you close to me, you have suffered the same loss. Now think about the people in your life, who I don’t know about but you do, who suffered the same fate or are hurting right now.
Right now, I am confident in saying there is probably somebody close to you who is suffering depression and thinking about the value of their life. Right now, that person might be you.
We can curb this trend—there are solutions and outlets for those who are in need, but many times when we are suffering or if we see somebody suffering, we feel powerless to do anything about it. Perhaps the feelings are so intense that we can’t see the forest from the trees.
Out of sight, out of mind: That’s a saying that unfortunately is all too true when it comes to depression and suicidal thoughts. We can’t see it, and as we progress through our day, other things come up, and we file away things we can do and think we can deal with this at a later date.
Well today, I am asking you take a minute to stop what you are doing (and by reading, this you are doing exactly that), but I want you to think about all of the people around you whom you love and who love you. Maybe you can drop them a note, an e-mail, a Facebook message, or a text just letting them know they are on your mind. It all starts with our collective efforts of thinking about one thing we can do today to remind somebody, anybody, that their life is important to us.
If we collectively make an effort to do this just one time a day, or even one time a week, we can shine more light and keep the conversation going about how treatable depression is. Perhaps today, you will find a new resource to cope, or something inspirational that might resonate with a person you know to make today a little more bearable, and the day after that even more bearable.
It’s really quite amazing how little it takes to make a difference.
