Reminder on World Mental Health Day (and Everyday): Be Kind

Today is World Mental Health Day. Let’s use it as a reminder to be kind not only today, but everyday.

Over the years past few years, many celebrities have successfully died as a result of suicide or admitted to attempting suicide. Many times, the public is cruel in response. When it comes to mental health, we then wonder why the suicide rate is on the rise when people can’t be kind.

The bottom line is that anyone who feels desperate enough to commit suicide no longer feels safe enough to confide in anyone. Even worse, those suffering from severe mental health issues can’t tell anyone, because the response is that “it’s for attention.”

Mental illnesses are not pleas for attention. They are medical issues that should be taken seriously, not mocked even after a person has finally died after multiple attempts of self-harm.

Even those of you who put the Suicide Prevention Hotline believing you are doing your duty, you aren’t if you are irritated by someone who is suicidal, believe they are seeking attention, dismissing them, or even believing they will never actually follow through with it.

The last two years have been difficult for a lot of people, myself included. I know what it’s like to go to sleep one night and wake up and have my entire life changed forever. It’s scary.

I lost my job, suffered illnesses (including Covid), have come to terms that my brain no longer works the same as it once did, and finally said goodbye to the best man I have ever known, my grandfather. I didn’t know what grief was until he left this world.

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