Imagine feeling so alone that you cry
yourself to sleep every night. Imagine the feeling of being trapped, and
whenever you attempt to escape, those invisible shackles that are holding you
in place start to get tighter. Imagine going to school every day, and being
bullied, and enduring that type of pain and torment on your own. Imagine the
feeling of living paycheck to paycheck, and barely having enough money to
provide for your family.
After you imagine that, I want you to
imagine being stuck in that type of situation for the majority of your life.
After spending many days and nights, racking your brain in an attempt to find
solutions to your problems, you began to feel like there is no logical solution.
Imagine having everything that you could ever want; now what if, one day, you
lost all of those things that you cherish. Maybe you’ve never experienced any
of those situations, but there are so many people that do experience those
types of problems every day. Imagine if those situations or similar ones forced
you to want to commit suicide.
According to the World Health
Organization,
over 800,000 people, worldwide, commit suicide each year. Now, think about
this, on average, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds throughout the
world. The Center for
Disease Control and Prevention states that; “over 2.2 million people
made plans to commit suicide in 2013, while more than 1 million people actually
made suicide attempts that same year.” It is clear, by looking at those numbers
that suicide is a serious problem. No one deserves to be bullied, and pushed to
a point where suicide is the only option for them to find peace. And no one
should have people in their life that insist that they care about them, but
when they see that this person is on the brink of committing suicide, they
ignore the signs until it is too late. It saddens me to know that we live in a
world filled with so much hatred and cruelty, a world filled with so people
that lack empathy.
There are many risk factors for suicide;
some of those are certain mental disorders, depression, drug and alcohol abuse,
and being a victim of bullying. Those are just a few of the things that force
some people to live in a prison, not a physical one, but a mental one. And some
of those people find it hard to escape that prison while they are alive, so
they see suicide as a way to permanently escape the pain that has been
inflicted upon them.
I had an in-depth conversation about
depression, with a woman, prior to writing this article. She had attempted
suicide twice, and when she is stressed, she cuts herself. I asked her, what a
person can do to help her lose the urge to hurt herself. She told me that she
had been abandoned by most of her friends and she feels alone all of the time.
She proceeded to tell me that something as simple as a person speaking to her
and asking her if she had a nice day could transform her mood from bad to good.
Nowadays we tend to walk right pass people without even speaking to them, but
speaking to them, as simple as it may seem, might be the one thing that would
prevent them from hurting themselves.
I too was in that situation before. It
was the summer time and the year was 2005. My friends and I weren’t as close as
we used to be. I had lost my job, I was going through problems with my family,
and I felt as if the whole world was against me. I tried my hardest to get back
on track, but nothing was working. One night, as I sat alone in my room with my
gun in my hand, I started feeling like death had to be better than living
in this cruel world. I was extremely close to ending my life, but something
inside of me was telling me that suicide wasn't the answer. I can't explain the
feeling, but at that moment I started to realize that I had a lot of reasons to
put down that gun. I will shed a little more light on what those reasons were,
and hopefully it will help someone who is in a similar situation.
When people are contemplating suicide,
they are usually only thinking about themselves, and their pain, and they are
being driven by those negative emotions. You should stop and think about how
your death will hurt those people that love you. Think about your mother,
father, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews; imagine how much pain they will
feel if you ended your life. Even if suicide was to solve your problems, would
you really want to leave your family stuck in this world, hurting, because of
your actions? These are some of the thoughts that crossed my mind.
Nothing in this life is permanent;
things are always changing; remember that, and realize that those negative
feelings will only exist temporarily. You must gain some sort of self control,
so that you can prevent your emotions from consuming you. This is not easy at
all, but it is possible.
Practice meditation, there are many
different forms of meditation, but I highly
suggest Isha Kriya yoga/meditation. A simple Google search will
lead you to many videos that will guide you while meditating. Devise a plan
that will help you get from where you are in life to where you want to be. Try
to accomplish something every week that will help you turn your plan into
reality. Please, realize that you can't turn your life around overnight, but if
you are patient and determined, nothing in this life will stop you.
You are unique, and one of a kind; look
around you there is no one else that is exactly like you in the entire world.
Not only that, but you have been given a gift, the gift of life; don't throw
away the gift that you were given by ending your life. You should also know that
we were all put here for a reason; we all have a purpose in life, which means
that you are just as important as anyone else walking this earth, and never let
anyone tell you that you are not.
To the children are that are being
bullied; talk to someone. Even if you can't talk to someone that is close to
you, there are many websites that can direct you to people that are willing to
help you overcome the way that you are feeling. There are many suicide hotlines
that will offer you help. The worst thing that you can do is keep those
feelings to yourself, because one day you will get tired of holding it in, and
it may lead to you hurting someone or hurting yourself.
Even if you are not suicidal, but you
are reading this, I have something to tell you. If you see a person that might
be showing signs of being suicidal, don't ignore them, talk to that person. If
talking to them is not working, try discussing the issue with someone close to
them, so that they may convince them seek professional help. And last but not
least, parents teach your children about bullying and the negative impacts that
it could have on the person that is being bullied. And I would suggest that you
teach them to help those children that are being bullied. Even if it is their
friends doing the bullying, teach them to do what they can to stop it.
Being able to identify a person that is
suicidal is very important. I will list some signs that you should look for,
and if you encounter someone that is showing one or more of these signs, you
should get them help immediately.
·
Talking
about dying and how easy things would be if they weren’t alive anymore
·
Isolating
oneself from society and losing interest in the things that they once enjoyed
·
Constantly
talking about being a burden to others and how easy life would be if they
weren’t around anymore
·
Sleeping
too much or too little
·
Changes
in behavior, such as becoming violent, or taking risk that could result in them
losing their life
·
Becoming
emotional for no reason, and randomly crying or showing signs of sadness
·
Making
comments on social media about being tired of living or how life has become too
much for them to handle
After reading this article, ask yourself
if any of your friends or family members is suffering from any issues that
could lead to them harming themselves. If someone that you know is suicidal, or
even if you think that they are suffering from a condition that will make them
want to harm themselves, reach out to them. Show them that you care, and try
your hardest to show them how they can benefit from getting some sort of
counseling. If they are refusing your help contact the suicide hotline
immediately. Call 800-SUICIDE
(800-784-2433) or 800-273-TALK.
Try to remain friendly when you are out
in public, and speak to as many people as possible. Remember, by speaking to
people in public and being polite, you could possibly save a life. It would be
illogical for me to think that we can prevent every suicide, but I know that
there are many suicides that can be prevented, and together we can save a lot
of lives.
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