In a matter of days, the semicolon tattoo has become an overnight sensation. For those who have not heard of the The Semicolon Movement, it was created on Tumblr "to restore hope and confidence in people who are troubled by addiction, depression, self-harm, and suicide." It is a way to tell the world, "my story isn't finished yet." Since its introduction, many have chosen to permanently place the semicolon tattoo on themselves as an everyday ...
Coping as a Survivor of a Highly Publicized Suicide
There is no good way to learn that someone you love has decided to end their life. We’ve all experienced that horrifying moment and can likely remember everything about it –what day of the week it was, what we were wearing and what we were doing shortly before our lives would be forever changed. The revelation about my dad’s death actually came to me via the news media and it made my loss all the more traumatizing. Any shred of privacy and ...
Why Didn’t I See the Signs of Suicide?
More often than not, I’ve heard survivors say they were blindsided by their loved one’s choice to take their own life. I said the same after my dad’s death. Sure, he seemed to be a little down but we never would have imagined something so extreme was on his mind. He was functioning at full capacity and never mentioned he was feeling suicidal. He had even “warned” us decades earlier as kids that there was nothing so bad in life that we would ever ...
Difficulty Hearing About Other Suicides
Since becoming a survivor of suicide, I feel like I can’t escape the news of more suicides happening around me. I don’t know if that’s really the case, or if it’s that my ears now perk up when I hear the term, but it makes me uncomfortable. I’m reminded of when I was on the brink of becoming engaged, getting married or having a baby and it also felt like everyone around me was going through those particular life stages except me. Every time I’d ...
Coping with Highly-Publicized Suicides
It’s been tough to escape the news of the unfortunate crash of Germanwings flight 9525 in the French Alps, which appears to have been caused by the co-pilot’s suicide. In addition to ending his own life, he killed 149 passengers onboard. As they commonly do, the media have spent days covering the ins and outs of the tragedy, including analysis of the mental state of a depressed or suicidal person. While I would prefer to change the channel, my ...