SUICIDE PREVENTION AWARENESS JEWELRY
"MY STORY ISN'T OVER YET" PURPLE/TURQUOISE/YELLOW SUICIDE PREVENTION AWARENESS JEWELRY
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission. Thanks! As an Amazon Associate I also earn from qualifying purchases.
;
My story goes on, as should yours.
Recently, just a couple of days ago, YouTube star Logan Paul uploaded a video from inside Japan’s Suicide Forest, where they ran across a dead body hanging from a tree. It has since been deleted, but it struck a nerve in me.
Japan (Mt. Fuji) has an entire forest where people go to end their lives.
A forest so thick with trees and foliage that even the wind stops. It creates an eerily dead silence.
And it consumes lives.
Hundreds of them. Yearly.
So much so they have to send in search missions to find all the bodies.
It breaks my heart just thinking about it.
I’ve known two wonderful people in my life that have ended theirs. One, a good friend of mine, 20 years old, piped carbon monoxide from his exhaust into his car and died.
The other, a beautiful woman, such a cheery sunshine soul, hung herself in her father’s pantry.
Truly Gut-Wrenching.
And it’s something that sticks with you forever. I always think about it. There’s no way to avoid it. It’s always the WHY? The What? The How?
And it haunts me
It haunts us all.
When Chester Bennington took his life last year, it was painfully difficult. Linkin Park was my favorite band. It makes me feel empty inside. Lost.
Suicide is Not the Answer
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-8255
And sometime in our lives, we are all touched by suicide. Someone we know will kill themselves. And it usually starts with depression.
In fact, it’s one of the biggest risk factors. It’s a mental disorder that most have to some degree. But other factors can include bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and substance abuse (alcoholism and drugs).
I’ve thought about suicide myself.
Multiple times in my life. I think we all have (haven’t we?) When life gets so stubbornly difficult and stressful, like the entire world is against you… It’s easy to let your mind wander. What if?
But I (You. We.) have to stay strong. Muscle through it. Push on. For things DO get better. The cloud clears. The weight lifts. Light comes back…
For together, we can weather through this and come out the other side.
There are many organizations that can help with suicide prevention and awareness, too. So we are not alone.
Using colors of purple and turquoise, as well as yellow, their ribbons, badges, bracelets and more, can bring conversations and aide to those who need it the most.
Because to Prevent it, we have to be AWARE!
We have to know the signs. Talk about it. Be there. We have no choice.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-8255
Life is Precious
It needs to be preserved. It needs to have a continuing story (hence the ; in all their jewelry).
Because you truly don’t know how many people’s lives are affected, until you open up and converse.
Suicide happens every 15 minutes.
That’s nearly 34,000 people that commit suicide every year. And soon, depression will outpace cancer, stroke, war, accidents, as the world’s leading cause of disability and death (according to the the World Health Organization). That’s insane.
It shouldn’t happen.
Ever!
Because we all have a future. More life to tell.
What’s your Story?
Recommended Jewelry Supplies: |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Recommended Jewelry Supplies: |
|||
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just very recently, my husband’s family (therefore mine as well, because they are my family, too – we have been married 41+ years) lost a member of our great niece’s and great nephew’s generation to suicide. I am not revealing which – it’s NOT important, but the fact that it happened to someone who was only 17 years old, IS important. With an entire life ahead, ready to make a mark on the world, this lovely, wonderful, accomplished, but apparently secretly very sad and hopeless individual did it by hanging themselves in their father’s barn. With a logging chain.
If you think the method of death reveals the individual’s gender or identity, think again. Discovery apparently was made not long after, as the last portion of their life was spent in the hospital nearest to them, in the ICU on full life support, after being sustained by paramedics doing an absolutely heroic job of manually, pharmaceutically and mechanically assisted life support en route. The declaration of being fully brain dead was soon to come however, based on extensive and thorough testing. The one thing which delayed the cessation of life support was this individual’s status as a full organ donor.
Many more lives were affected, this time in a very positive manner, we fervently hope, by the gifts of continued life, sight, orthopedic repair (through donation of bone used in many ways) to name a very few.
ALL donated tissues are thoroughly and appropriately tested for anything which could render anything donated as dangerous for use in any way, then thoroughly managed to render it incapable of degradation before use, up to a specific time-related deadline, again to prevent causing any further harm to someone else already severely medically challenged.
The family of the victim, for this wonderful person was indeed a victim, of what we’re not quite sure, because the reason or reasons behind this horrible event were never revealed by word or deed, lives several hours away from us. Being physically disabled as I am, leaving me unable to travel very far from my home, especially on overnight ventures, rendered me unable to attend any of the services. It required a trip overnight to attend them all, and my husband and our grown son, who is old enough to be the father of this sad individual, attended and delivered my condolences on my behalf. It truly broke my heart, physically painful indeed, to have to stay home for one thing, and even more so that it happened at all. Even more so to learn of the obviously devastating toll it has taken on the rest of family, especially the mother and much younger siblings of this person…..
We are attempting to get through it, day by day, and each day gets just a minute amount easier. But not because of the old, old adage that “Time heals all wounds.” Much more because time usually teaches you how to deal with the pain. It doesn’t heal anything.
I have a friend, living in the general area where I spent the first 20 years of my life, who, a few years ago, thought she had really found her soulmate after being a divorcee for many years. She always spoke and wrote of him in thoroughly loving and glowing terms, and posted photos of the two of them, seemingly a happy couple.
They married after a while, and made a lovely home together, into which she poured her heart, soul, blood, sweat, and a few tears even, in making their home a truly personal and loving extension of themselves. He occupied a highly exalted position in professional life, with a very wide array of admiring coworkers, and awards and accolades for his work.
One day, he went to work, just like usual, and went to lunch, just like usual, but failed to return to work again, very much unlike usual. He was discovered a little later, by the City Police, in his car, sitting in the driver’s seat, where he had placed a handgun to his temple and pulled the trigger.
The news, of course, absolutely staggered my friend. She was almost completely destroyed in her anguish. The home they made she could suddenly no longer occupy, having been made into an extension of themselves, it carried so many memories of their life together. She abandoned it to the shelter of a loving and kind friend with a large guestroom, and the unending compassion to take on the situation as it stood.
It has now been a couple of years since the event that not only destroyed her existence, but also opened her eyes. In the 20/20 hindsight that often accompanies such an occurrence, she had begun to see for the first time, things as they really were, not as she wished them to be. Originally, she could come up with no ideas of what could have possibly motivated him to do such a deed, but after the clouds of heartbreak and despair began to lift a little, things began to clear up in their short history together that gave some very obvious clues to his thought processes. Things like his extremely short tempered responses to her questions and requests for clarifications of terms and ideas as she was well occupied into writing another of several books she has published. And very short, hurtful responses to just general conversation in the presence of many others (he seemed to be most hurtful in front of witnesses when he treated her like an idiotic child) who immediately understood his actual intent, but never mentioning it to my friend because they didn’t want to heap pain upon what they assumed she must already be feeling in response to his own. But, they were wrong. She didn’t acknowledge his untoward responses to her as any kind of weakness or blindness towards her as such. It was simply written off as a stress response to his work, which was in a very high stress occupation. OR, it was HER fault for saying or doing something that SURELY MUST have been wrong somehow in his eyes. Not that he was dealing with severe mental abnormalities, or personality disorders of any kind, and that nothing she had said or done indicated the fault was hers. But, by trying to assume the blame for his unkind and intentionally hurtful words and behavior, she missed the opportunity to try and address the actual problem head on. She missed out on the opportunities, plentiful they were in hindsight, to try hard to get him the kind of help he really needed. It may not have been successful in the end, and it may not have saved their marriage, BUT it would have been an effort for which she could credit herself, instead of blaming the outcome on herself. That alone could have taken some of the hurt and self-blame off her shoulders, while she mourned his loss. It may have worked too, at least to the point of getting out for a bit from underneath whatever incredibly heavy burdens he was obviously carrying. It may have afforded him the opportunity of really getting perhaps the psychological and/OR medicinal assistance he needed to release him from his demons.
But, we can play the “Shoulda Coulda Woulda” game all day long, and not change the outcome. What we can do is put out here something she said later, after having seen for the first time his real behavior and it’s final result. She said to a group of her friends, and wrote in several posts online, after returning to it. She said to this effect, “If you want to really destroy the lives of those who love you, your family and your friends, and even some you may not be fully aware of who admire you, then commit suicide. If you really, really want to affect their lives in the most negative manner possible, for as long as possible, commit suicide.”
I’d like to add some of my own, too… If you want to really show them how much you love them, and acknowledge their love for you, ask them to help you find help. There’s certainly no shame in asking for help. It’s not a shameful thing or a sign of weakness to get help from someone who knows how to do it. If you get diabetes, or badly burned over a large part of your body, you wouldnt try and treat it all alone, or if you broke an arm or a leg, you would go to a hospital, or at least a doctor first for help. This is no different, just because its not something you can immediately see. You don’t need to carry that burden all alone.
In allowing them to help you, and for taking their help, you are giving them them the ultimate gift of being able to express their love for you. And, if you think there isn’t anyone around you who loves you, look around again. I’m betting you’ll find more than you think. But, if you think I’m wrong, pick up any working telephone, and dial 1-800-273-8255, The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They can help you find plenty of people who can and will be thoroughly happy to get you the help you really need. And, perhaps someday you can become the beacon of light and hope that someone else will be seeking. Help and hope is there for everyone who asks. Just ask them – ask!
No words. You have me in tears. Such loss and devastation. I really feel for you and your family. And the words your friend said about destroying people’s lives… So true. So sad. It really does make one think. I hope people read this and I hope that it touches their lives as well. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for sharing. *hugs -Richard
Richard, Thank you for your kind words, thoughtfulness, and sympathy. It honestly has been a truly awful time, and Christmas was really rough on them this year, as this all took place in November. I really do appreciate your kindness.
I do sincerely hope that you have found ways out of the terrible abyss that depression can leave you in. Most of the time, there’s so many things you miss out on when that happens. You can’t reclaim that time, and get “do-overs.” If you’re very lucky, you might get the opportunity to pick up where you left off, and let someone else help you make a better life for yourself. It’s just such deep, terrible sadness.
I’m glad you’re here! I really enjoy your blog posts so much, and I have learned from you, too. There’s so many jewelry things that I find myself using you as a reference! Your sense of humor is a lot of fun, too! I read almost all your posts, and have taken your advice on buying certain equipment and supplies for my own jewelry.
Thank you for being a friend, and for your thoughtfulness. It’s very much appreciated. Hugs back atcha!
Shari