The Light!

I read some stats recently that shocked me. There are 8 suicides in Australia every day, ¾ of them are Men. What’s truly shocking me is that for every suicide, there are 30 people who attempt suicide. That is 65,000 people per year.

It made me realize just how deep mental health issues flow through our society.

I believe society’s expectations of how a man is meant to act and behave, how we are raised to believe that we should be strong, don’t show emotions and not cry, is killing our fathers, our brothers, our sons…our men.

I look back at where I was, and where I am today. At last a few of the jigsaw pieces have started to fall into place. Being able to get old enough to gain some wisdom has been a blessing, and I realize how fortunate I have been to get to this point in my life.

I have been through the dark times myself. Having suffered from depression for 30years, I know how hard and painful it can be. I can only imagine how much more pain those who take their life must be in, to get to the point where they thought there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m sorry they didn’t get the chance to see they were the light, they were someone’s light.

I was fortunate to have many lights help me through my dark days.

I was also lucky to be the light to others, though I didn’t fully understand or even realize it most of the time.

So why is depression, mental illness, suicide so prevalent in our society today? There is no one answer. Is it society’s expectations of how men should act, shouldn’t cry, be tough, pretend not to have any issues? Or is it because of the social media phenomenon or lack of resilience growing up.    

The one thing I believe we can do to help ourselves, that is to connect.

Let’s put down the phone or the I-pad, turn off the TV, walk away from the computer and start connecting with each other.

Let’s start talking and listening to each other. And really listen, because between the words spoken, you may hear a totally different story.

Please remember we are all a light to someone. You are the light. Continue to be that light and you will help someone to find their way through their darkness.

And if you are struggling…look for those who will help you get through that long dark tunnel to your light of life.