When someone takes their own life we often ask Why?
We can’t understand the pain they were in.
Or why they didn’t reach out for help.
We feel we could have helped them if only we knew.
Yet we didn’t know, and after the fact there is nothing we can do.
We wish so much that they had reached out to us.
That we could have been there for the them.
But the person in pain is never the one to reach out.
That is up to us.
The time for us to reach out to our friends is always now.
For we have no idea what they are going through.
And perhaps that unexpected call from us would make all the difference.
It might be the one thing that changes their decision.
For the decision to commit suicide is one born out of pain.
And knowing that someone out there cares enough for them to randomly reach out to them may make he difference.
We have all been through hard times when we wished someone would reach out to us.
Haven’t we learned that lesson for ourselves?
Especially during this time of isolation and fear, that connection is so important.
It is not up to the person in isolation to reach out.
It is up to the community to reach out to them.
For one person’s health is the health of the community.
And the responsibility falls on all of our shoulders.
The time to ask what is going on is before the tragedy happens.
Yet sometimes we don’t, and the tragedy does happen.
Beating ourselves up for not reaching out does not serve us.
Allowing the loss of a friend of loved one can serve as a reminder to reach out.
So let’s honor the ones we have lost by not being in sadness nd depression, but by doing for another what we did not do for that person.
Reach out to someone we haven’t spoken to for a while.
Check in with people you haven’t heard from.
It may make all the difference in the world.
So who can you check in on that you have not spoken to for a while?
~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant