Tag: anxiety

September is Suicide Awareness Month.

Death is a horrible topic. It shouldn’t exist to begin with. Even grieving death hurts deeply. But what happens when you want it, death? When the beauty within yourself turns ugly and all you know is the ashes of broken life?

Logically, we see suicide as the murder of oneself. It goes against common sense. But more than murder, on an emotional and physical level, it’s a soul’s cry of hopeless desperation.

Why would someone want to take their own life?

 The reasons are a million and one, but it comes down to this, the world is not as it should be right now. And encounters with that brokenness that has reached the depths of who we are and escaping the pain of that brokenness can be consuming.

Suicide is like a volcano; the very core and foundation holds the danger. When a volcano goes off, the effect is not only the ash and molte ...

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We all experience things differently and they can progress at different rates depending on several variables; our resiliency, our support system, ways we cope and a few more.  But they can usually progress this way, stress, anxiety, depression (each with 3 levels) and unfortunately these lead to suicide contemplation.

 

Stress-Low; these items are our daily routine stuff, getting up to go to work or school, chores we do around the house, things we have to do.

Stress-Medium; these items begin to get us upset and aggravated, bad day at work, traffic jam, a flat tire, running late for something these items can begin to weigh us down if the stay consistent.

Stress-High; over-loaded at work, past due bills, consequences are forming because of what has happened, these things are starting to take a toll on our daily activities.

 

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People have various expectations for counseling. Sometimes they expect that after a couple of sessions their problems will be solved. Other times, they refuse to start counseling because they have been told to “suck it up” and “deal with it” when thinking about their struggles in life.

 

Even though counseling has been more widely accepted, we often still imagine it as it is on TV. You come in, lay down on a couch, and start talking about your problems. Meanwhile, the therapist sits there with clipboard in hand, nodding their head, and asking "how do you feel about that”? I often think of that scene from Freaky Friday where Anna has switched places with her mother, who is a shrink, and when she goes to mom’s work in her place, Anna is only supposed to ask, “And how does that make you feel?”. Now, don’t get me wrong, therapists DO ask that question…but that is not all we ask.

 

There are ...

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