💚[TW: Suicidality] Day 21 of 21 (June 2); not done. Not alone. Not “Other.” Not ever. One more day, one more month, one more year, one more life to live.
We’re sweeter together! We love the fact that we’re all a bit nutty as we complete this 21 day clause; what comes next is the greatest part of the story. How we all create a world made to support mental health and all aspects of health among each other and each of the other 344 days of the year!
There was much more we wanted to share through this time but of course both sweet potatoes and humans have limits... so we’re certainly not going anywhere, one part of which we mentioned at the beginning is, as with everything, the audio pairing! On Tidal and Spotify, some music that vibes with us as we both celebrate and process this wonderfully challenging part of living known as Mental Health.Â
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“A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.”- Project Semicolon
Real power comes from making it through dark times. Surviving and deciding to live makes every clause of life to come more beautiful and impactful; you grow stronger, not in spite of, but because of it.
Not Just Punctuation, Words Matter:
Essential to eliminate stigma & encourage help-seeking regarding suicidality.
Examples of Better Options:
(from a study of 2,719 people impacted by suicide in USA, UK, and AUS)
Lived through a suicide attempt
Suicide survivor
Took their own life
Died by suicide
The most well-received terms are non-stigmatizing, respectful, and validate emotions. They are factual, clear, descriptive, commonly used, and non-emotive.
Words Carry History
To take one’s own life, or “commit suicide,” historically has a criminal sense. Today’s language and stigma carry a long history. The Roman Council of Arles in 452 CE passed legislation making suicide illegal among enslaved people and soldiers because it would be a loss of economic and military power. King “Edgar the Peaceful” of England in 967 CE categorized suicide so that he, or the local feudal lord, could seize the land and property of the person who took their own life, just as they would a criminal. This became part of UK Common Law until 1961, influencing the USA’s laws, language, and culture.
It’s Time to Move On!
What Comes Next?
May ;
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
What Comes Next?
#May ;
Advocacy
Therapy
Listening
Community
Asking for Help
Sharing Stories
Old Darkness
New Medication
Normal Setbacks
Celebrating Progress
Mental Health, Together
More Resources:
References
1 - “Project Semicolon” by Heidi Tobe on Sep. 15, 2017, Therapist Development Center
2 - “Language use and suicide: An online cross-sectional survey.” Padmanathan, Prianka et al., PloS one vol. 14,6 e0217473. 13 Jun. 2019, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0217473
3 - “A Brief History of Anglo-Western Suicide: From Legal Wrong to Civil Right,” Helen Y. Chang, Golden Gate University, 2018
4 - “The long history of criminalising suicide” Michael Bradley, August 9, 2018, Lexology, Law Business Research
See Instagram Post for visual version.