Changing Seasons, Changing You
As the air begins to crisp, and the leaves start changing colors, we are brought back to what’s familiar. Maybe this time feels sad, or it feels exciting. The beauty of seasons is the change we must endure; reminding us of our internal strength and resilience. September 10th was National Suicide Prevention Day, and while a day can never be enough to grieve the lives lost and families and friends affected, it’s an important time for us to listen, unlearn, relearn, and heal. With over 700,000 lives lost a year globally due to suicide it important for us to reflect on our own struggles, how common and yet unique they are, and the systems within us and around us, that make it challenging to find hope. Most of us, if not everyone, has thought about dying, has questioned why we are here, and wondered what it would be like to not exist. For us to make changes in that harrowing yearly number, we need to take the shame out of suicide and suicidal thoughts. Shame hides us from the world, it protects us but with limits. It is also not solely on us, but on the systems and powers put in place that keeps us apart: limiting our time available to support one another. Most of us are too tired to have challenging conversations and too exhausted to support one another as most of us are barely able to support ourselves.
As some of us begin to start school, come back from vacations, put our summer clothes away, restart our routines, get back to work, it’s okay to feel burdened by it all. And It’s okay to feel excited about what’s to come, who you will meet and what you will learn. Some important strategies to consider in this transitional phase is to focus on what has already helped you and identify your internal and external strategies. Internal strategies can look like taking a breath before you answer that text or email. Finding the feeling in your body; if you can find the edges of this feeling, where it begins and where it ends. Putting some love, maybe your hand, towards this feeling, acknowledging it’s there, it is showing you you’re alive, and maybe you can talk to it or write to it. Some external strategies can be calling that friend who listens deeply or going for a walk with your co-worker or family member who can relate in the struggles you face. Or maybe, you watch that tv show or movie or read that book that brings you comfort and ease. Acknowledging how scary and uncomfortable change can be and releasing yourself from the expectation that you should feel differently about it. Rather, embrace your feelings and allow them to be, because they will change just like the color of the leaves on that tree.
Just like the change in the weather, we, our feelings, the severity of them, will change and get rearranged in our bodies so that the pain from them feels more manageable that even light can shine through. And maybe this feeling lasts longer than you hoped it would. Hope isn’t always accessible, we can’t always feel it, but it’s always there. Hope is in the tree that has stood tall for decades, weathering storms and suffering. Hope is in your child’s eyes as they taste ice cream for the first time. Hope is in that flower that blooms after that long cold winter. Hope is in our community, between one another as we rebuild after destruction. Suicide and thoughts of suicide has a stigma around it because we, in this culture, tend to avoid what’s painful to survive another day. And while this is understandable, what if we could connect on this common thread that’s between us? Maybe the shame and stigma would lessen, and our bodies could feel comforted and held through the suffering that is living. I encourage you all to reflect on what you keep from the world, your families, friends, yourselves, and what others may keep from you and themselves. We don’t need to withhold our pain and only share them with professionals. Our pain connects us, our pain is our humanness. Have those hard conversations when you can, open up to your neighbors, your friends, your family, if it’s safe, and open yourself up to the world; find your community, no matter how big or small. We don’t need to do all this living and suffering alone.
World Health Organization. (n.d.). World Suicide Prevention Day 2024. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/campaigns/...
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