Obviously, today is the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the US, so it seems a bit weird to be sending out an archive issue that doesn’t address that.
But I didn’t start my website until later in 2001, so I don’t have any posts written about 9/11 when it happened.
On the other hand, yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day, and I have written about that before:
World Suicide Prevention Day 2021
So, the thing I want us to talk about this year is not just encouragement to call a hotline or to reach out to a friend for help, or even to tell our stories and erase the stigma around mental health issues. I want us to consider doing more than that. I want us, as a society, to figure out how to provide hope. As much value as there is in all of those other things, if I can't provide some hope that things will get better, that we are working and advocating for things to get better across all areas of our culture, then I can't honestly say that there is a reason for someone to hope, and at the end of the day, the thing that truly prevented me from taking my own life when I was at my worst was the hope that life wouldn't always be that painful.
Related - Sharing - We Need More Comprehensive Suicide Prevention
Sometimes It Takes a Root Canal
So yeah, it’s a process. But in the end, the process is both what I need to do to get the help I need and necessary because the alternative of not dealing with it is untenable.
Sounds an awful lot like dealing with abuse and mental health problems.
Yes, dealing with the past can be a complex, ongoing process. There’s not much easy about it, and one of the first things you have to do is come up with a plan you can live with. Once that plan is in place, though, it’s essential to stick with it, because the alternative isn’t viable.
In short, who are you without the abuse? No one knows for sure because it's up to you to become who you want to be. The abuse will always be part of us; it's shaped who we are, and as much as we can heal and overcome that, we can never completely rid ourselves of its influence. On the other hand, once you are ready and able to set aside all that work and turn your focus from the past to the future, you are free to make the life you choose for yourself.
World Suicide Prevention Day 2025 and things that don’t exist
Read one note from someone who lost their parent in a war when they were young. Consider what my family would have been without my uncle’s return. What would be missing? My aunt. My cousins, their spouses, and kids.
Now multiply that by 720,000 per year lost to suicide.
Quick Thought #15 - Do what you can; it’s good for you.
As the research suggests, I don't want to claim that doing good things will bring you never-ending happiness and health, but it does have an effect, and maybe more importantly, the more people who are willing to do small, "good" things, the greater the overall effect in society at large. Perhaps that's the biggest takeaway.
Do You Struggle to Accept Compliments?
I do. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was on the phone with a former coworker who complimented me on the work I do with this site, and it took everything I had to say thank you instead of trying to diminish it.
I’m also not above admitting I said thank you mostly in the hope she would stop talking about it and go back to what we had been talking about before she brought it up.
Yeah, compliments make me that uncomfortable. I know I’m not alone in that.