Buzzword of the Month

suicide

To me suicide has turned into a buzzword, and what do people do when they hear a buzzword? Tune out. The Air Force wants to do a down day to focus on getting our suicide rates down. That’s great that they are paying attention. But will one day make a difference?

About a month ago I was struggling at work. I had let my emotions take over. I had a lot of change going on and I don’t deal well with change. I made a point to be vocal and speak my frustration to my leaders, and they joked that we have it better than others. My coworker took the time to sit and listen to me and call me out for allowing my emotions to control me. He snapped me out of it, yet my leader never even took me serious.

This is our problem. People always say that they never even realized so and so was hurting. Ask yourself though if you saw/heard that pain would you be there to listen and not judge? Would you make the person feel better or worse?

Last summer I was struggling (it seems to be a summer theme for me). I had told a coworker about my previous mental health struggles and how horrible my experience with military mental health was. I confided in her. Then when I hit a bad spot and realized I needed to go to mental health, that I could no longer handle it alone. I was upfront with my supervisor and my coworker about going to mental health. Mainly because I trust them, but also because I am passionate about trying to de-stigmatize going to mental health and getting help. She heard me talking about it and being open and saw that as a cry for help that I was going to hurt myself. I wasn’t, I have thankfully never been suicidal. Even if I was though, I didn’t need anyone’s judgment. If she thought I was suicidal why did she never talk to me about it. She talked about her concerns to other people, Never me. This is the problem.

If you see someone struggling. Be there. No, you probably can’t say anything to fix it. But you listening and being there is amazing and can make a bigger difference than you can imagine. The first step of lowering the number of people committing suicide is to first care about people, don’t wait for a funeral to be there and be supportive. When you pass someone in the hall, don’t ask how they are and not wait for the answer. Make time for people as humans.

Second, if you have ever struggled be honest about it. Share this, let others know that even you have sat in your car after work crying. You being vulnerable makes people feel safer coming to you when they need someone.

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