Feeling Suicidal?

Posted on by Valerie Roney

Suffering is character building, I talked about that a lot in the Storm Chasers post, we grow as human beings with what we are forced to go through. But sometimes the suffering, whatever the source, is too much to bear. Too much to live through, quite frankly. If you are pushing at the boundaries of what you can bear (or left that line behind long ago) I have three very important things to tell you, so listen up…

1. You’re not alone. Ok, you are probably feeling extraordinarily alone in a very real sense or you wouldn’t be in the state of mind you’re in, but you are not alone in feeling alienated, misunderstood, disconnected. Extraordinary people don’t fit in. You (we) are the deeper thinkers, the more sensitive feelers, the novel perceivers. The world looks different through your eyes and there’s an inherent sense of isolation in that. You may be a bubble of one in your circles, but out there, somewhere, are more beautiful little weirdos, and you will find them, eventually. Maybe not right now, not when you need them most, but keep looking because they need you as much as you need them. If nothing else, there’s a goodly assortment of them that gather on this site, so join in the conversations, old or new.

2. Go ahead and give up …for a while. I’m not gonna blow sunshine up your butt and tell you it’ll get better, there’re things to look forward to yadda yadda yadda. If you were able to hope right now you wouldn’t need me to tell you that. Things will get better, and then there’ll be some shitty stuff again, and then some good stuff. That’s life, it rolls both ways. But it’s totally ok to say enough! when it rolls too hard, but just give up for a while. You don’t have to be gracious or kind or classy in your misery, all I’m asking of you is not to take permanent action on temporary situations. Depression can be an all consuming dark cloud that makes you forget (or even believe) that anything was ever any good, and this may not feel temporary. I don’t care. Sit on it, for as long as it takes. And I’ll tell you why: anybody who hurt you, that you’d like to hit with a vengeful haha in your FACE! with your death probably won’t give a shit about it, but the people who care about you, the ones you’d like to protect from your suffering will be devastated. So just don’t. It will pass, there will be other moments to live, I don’t care if you believe it right now, just trust me on this. Give up for as long as it takes, but don’t give up for good.

3. Reach out. I know this is hard, especially when you are catatonic with gloom, and you may have to lay low in that giving up phase for a while before you’ve got the chuff to even risk this, so take your time. But there are people out there who care, who can help. I’ll be honest with you, you may not get what you want on the first ask, because some people care deeply but panic-freeze when things get intense and may not know what to do; and yes, some of our mental health systems are kinda broken and it sometimes it takes a bit of jigging to get the system to work for you. But as per discussions brewing on my last post, getting your needs met takes practice. Every ask helps you get a little bit clearer about what you need, and every disappointment helps you refine who to ask, and how. So when you can, take a risk and ask for help, you might be surprised with what’s out there for you. And if you’re disappointed, give up again …for a while, regroup and try again when you’re ready. You’ve got the rest of your life to figure this out. I just want that to be a good long time, because the world needs you to get past this, to figure this out, and bring your brilliant insight and compassion and school-of-hard-knocks wisdom to someone else’s suffering down the road.

And the rest of us have got some work to do too! We’ve got to get better at knowing our own needs, allowing some vulnerability. Building a society where this is the norm, so that when someone is really hurting, when the need is really great, the chasm of the ask isn’t too great to cross. ’cause I’ll tell you what I need, I need to stop losing the extraordinary people in my life just because the friction of trying to fit in with the rest of the world has become too great to bear.

  •  postscript: someone sent me a link to A Very Brief Guide to Self Care. A comic that provides a stellar, practical, honest list of suggestions if you: “feel like crap, think you’re worthless, can’t get out of bed, feel stupid and ugly, don’t know what to do.” It is excellent. Check it out.

20 thoughts on “Feeling Suicidal?”

  1. Just surfacing to say how awesome you are. This is a beautiful post, and I know it will make its way to someone who needs it, when they need it. Love you!

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  2. So true! For some the only solution is medication. Once you get on it and start feeling better, DON’T STOP! But as Valerie says – reach out.

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    1. Oh yes! Very good point, getting brain chemestry stuff sorted makes a world of difference. Sometimes drugs ARE your friend.

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  3. I’m sending this to my son. He needs to hear this from someone other than his mom. Sorry for your losses. It’s not only tough to be the one to take one’s own life. It’s also tough to be the survivor. Kudos to you for expressing your needs so beautifully.

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  4. This IS a really beautiful post. You know how to talk to people tucked away in deep corners. I was very suicidal for almost three years. No matter how I tried to pull myself together and rebuild my life, emotional triggers would take me out at the knees. Also, I was suffering from a life-long depression that turned very acute. I would show up for life, come home and collapse. Google the words “freeze response”. There is much help out there. Read Bob Scaer’s or Peter Levine’s work.

    I am coming out of a long dark night of the soul – I could never have imagined how beautiful it would be on the other side of this journey.

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  5. Beautiful post.

    I don’t know if this is too silly for such a serious topic, but for silly reasons, we were watching an episode of Fraggle Rock online and it was about fear and death and friendship, and this little song was in it. It made me think of your post:

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  6. What a way to get responses! To a void of avoid out there. Even the mental illness system avoids talk about suicide.

    It’s a tricky line. Sometimes we all need our fantasies. Can’t remember who first said “the thought of suicide has got me through many a dark night.”

    That stops working eventually, when one is just angry at broken promises, lost opportunities. Sometimes I keep in mind how much cheaper funerals are when you join up with a funeral home in advance, when you have a will, and how long it’s been since I’ve eaten a favourite like lamb curry. Ouch, I guess I must be in a better space because I haven’t been that tempted for a while.

    Knock wood.

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    1. Yup, I have forgotten… hard to believe, but depression goes deeper than lamb curry. I know there were days when I resented any hunger that trickled through to my head, and I complained to my prodding sister about the lack of any ration bars for sale within light years and decades… (phrase credit to Lois McMaster Bujold among others.)

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      1. I have been reminded and am forgetting again. As usual, the chemistry is typical for my brain.
        I have a lot of anger around this topic. Maybe my suicidalness doesn’t count. For years, I have not attempted for the same reasons:
        A. The grief of survivors. Sometimes I’ve gotten it down to only 2 people whose grief seemed too huge.
        B. I am morally opposed to my own suicide.
        C. I bet I would change my mind when it was too late.
        I am really surprised that A and B have lasted this long. Sometimes I’ve argued A down to only 2 people. I expected B to snap any time, but it hasn’t. C is a newer reason.
        Of course, these years have been pretty good years.
        Decade before last, I had a few years of not being suicidal and that was a great relief.
        I have D. E. and F. reasons as well, but I can’t tell you everything… Besides, that’s too many to remember when depressed!

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        1. I am so grateful for your honest and well informed comments in this thread. There’s a lot going through people’s heads in times like these, I’m so glad there are things to read for people to know they’re not alone in having them. Thank you!

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  9. Look at all the posts! Your heartfelt writing is obviously timely for many. The universe certainly finds ways to bless us and heal us…we just have to be patient, ride the waves, and accept the life-preservers that are thrown our way.

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  10. You are an amazing writer and a wonderful human being. Smart, caring and different in the best possible way. You saved my life a few years ago and I will never forget that. I am one of the many people on this earth who love you so much.

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