Me and my 99 friends
On Friday May 18 of this year, @ 100 people in Canada tried to end their life by suicide. I was one of them.
This number is a rough estimate as it is hard to pin down an exact figure. It is estimated that for every death by suicide, 10–20 other people will attempt. On any day in Canada about 10 people die by suicide. That means that every day in Canada about 100 people attempt suicide.
Me and my 99 friends.
I don’t know what happened to the other 99 on that day. Some of the other 99 ended up at hospital, some didn’t.
I ended up in hospital for an overnight.
Some of them went to sleep and woke up the next day.
Some of them went to work the next day and carried on like nothing happened. Most of their colleagues will never know what transpired the previous day.
I have been off work for the past month and I have let some people know what happened.
Some the other 99 family’s found out about the attempt. Those families surrounded their family member in love, compassion and understanding.
Some of the 100 didn’t tell their families because they didn’t know how to talk to their families. Some families didn’t want to hear.
I am very blessed to have a supportive wife and children. I did not say anything to other family members because I did know what to say or how to say it.
How many other people are in a similar situation? They don’t know how or what to say to their loved ones, their friends or their employers. I fear that too many of us don’t say anything at all.
I am also afraid that friends, employers and loved ones don’t know how to say anything or even what to say.
Talking about your most recent suicide attempt in the lunch room at work a hardly ever happens, if it happens at all.
Unfortunately the only time we talk about suicide is when someone dies. It usually involves a celebrity. Any death by suicide is tragic, but what about the 100 people that attempted that day? Who talks about them?
We are often far too quiet when it comes to suicide.
It is time for the silence to stop.
I want the silence to stop.
I want to stop the silence.
Too many of us suffer in silence.
We feel alone. We think that people don’t understand. We are afraid to say anything because we are afraid of the response.
If we are to ever learn what to say and how to talk about suicide, the silence must end.
We need to start a different kind of conversation. I don’t what that conversation will look like and where it might go.
I want to start that conversation by writing this blog. I invite others that have attempted to find the way that makes the most sense to them to start the conversation.
Let’s end the silence about suicide. It won’t be easy and there will be conversations that will be challenging and hard.
If we start with ourselves, the journey might be a little less difficult because we won’t be alone.
