It’s OK to not be OK

We recently came to the end of September (which is a little hard to believe), and over the course of the month, we ran a handful of columns about it being Suicide Prevention Month. That’s one of those things that I feel needs to be an all-the-time sort of thing, but I get it. The idea is that you highlight suicide statistics and such for a month in the hopes that it raises awareness year-round.

Suicide is one of those things I will never understand. I get that terrible things happen to people and that life is hard but even with some of the terrible things I’ve been through, I’ve never thought it would be better to not be alive. But for some, it seems, that is not the case.

I have known people who chose to take their own lived.

In each of those cases, those people were dealing with depression, substancr abuse, trauma of some kind. Just recently, a man shot up a Kroger over in Collierville and then shot himself. I have seen multible stories of celebrity and semi-celebrity people killing themselves this year. It makes no sense.

But mental health is something we’re kind of conditioned to put on the back-burner. It’s not cool to talk about bad feelings or thoughts because it’s seen as some sort of weekness. Now that I do get. We live in a society where men are manly and tough, and women are supposed to find joy in motherhood and wifely duties. It’s probably time to let those norms fall bt the wayside.

It’s OK to not be OK. Talk to someone, reach out, and don’t be afraid of what people might think. I assure you, they have these feelings sometimes too. As bad as in might seem, it is, in fact, better to be alive.