{"id":424,"date":"2016-10-09T08:50:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T15:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/?p=424"},"modified":"2016-10-08T22:11:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-09T05:11:46","slug":"suicide-an-option-for-many-and-a-mess-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/2016\/10\/suicide-an-option-for-many-and-a-mess-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicide – An Option for Many and a Mess for Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was thinking of my friend Joe today. \u00a0He was witty, compassionate, caring and a recovering addict. \u00a0His spiritual counseling practice was growing, he was seeing someone and then one day he slipped. \u00a0He spent a brief period\u00a0doing his drug of choice and then faced the wall of shame and grief that happens when you know you have to make your way back to sobriety.<\/p>\n

Day three of that journey is the worst. \u00a0He didn’t make it.<\/p>\n

In his choice to end his own life he ended his own suffering and caused it in many of us. We wondered what else we could have done to help. \u00a0We wondered if we were next. \u00a0We just wondered.<\/p>\n

I do not believe that suicide is evil or selfish. \u00a0In fact I believe it is just a symptom of a greater malady. \u00a0Despair, hopelessness and depression are every day life for many people. They continually suffer, sometimes in silence and sometimes loudly, acting out their personal struggle according to their body chemistry, family history and ability to ask for & receive help. \u00a0A dear friend once told me that for her, “Suicide will always be an option.” To this day I remember exactly where I was when she said it. \u00a0She was casual, matter of fact and deadly serious. \u00a0It scared me to the bone.<\/p>\n

Many times I have walked through the suicide of a friend. \u00a0It leaves me in a mess of sadness, frustration, gratitude and fear. \u00a0I miss each of these people to this day and am saddened by their absence in my life. \u00a0I am grateful that I no longer\u00a0have the special cocktail of circumstances that\u00a0would add me to their ranks. \u00a0I am fearful\u00a0that as a society we are doing pathetically little to help people before they make this decision.<\/p>\n

But is it really a decision? \u00a0Research tells us that most often the precipitating cause of suicide is mental illness. \u00a0Last time I checked when you are mentally ill, your decisions are suspect and yet we fail to fund\u00a0necessary resources to appropriately intervene when people are in trouble. \u00a0There are clear risk factors for people dealing with the desire to end their own life:<\/p>\n

\"risk-factors\"

Source: beyondblue.org.au<\/p><\/div>\n

There is no shortage of research on suicide, its causes or treatments. \u00a0What we lack as a society is the will to take a stand against this epidemic. An April, 2016 study<\/a> from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) tells us that suicide rates have been on the rise in the United States for 30 years. The greatest increase is in females<\/strong>\u00a0from 10-14<\/strong> and men from 45-64<\/strong>.\u00a0We have to ask ourselves why.<\/p>\n

My spirituality tells me that I can never truly be separated from those who have moved on to some other form of existence. \u00a0They are present in my memories and in the world around me. \u00a0Personally though, I’d like to test that theory less and reduce the suffering of those struggling with this decision.<\/p>\n

Prayer and meditation in these circumstances are not enough. \u00a0If you or someone you know is struggling with this battle, reach out. \u00a0Help is available.<\/strong> We’d like you to stay with us. \u00a0Your story isn’t over yet. \u00a0Mine certainly wasn’t.<\/p>\n

\n

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Call 1-800-273-8255<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Available 24 hours everyday<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suicide.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Prevention, Awareness\u00a0and Support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can impact those struggling with suicide. The story isn’t over. Take action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/portrait-closeup-people-emotion-depress-1487978-639x464.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pZx8-6Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions\/458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endlessmagic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}