Before you give the ” Say No to Suicide” advice, read this

Before you give the ”Say No to Suicide” advice, read this!

This post might be a bit controversial and not the usual stuff I put up on my blog. But I sense a great need to write on this topic. The latest word in town, all around social media is ” Say No to Suicide”, don’t kill yourself and all. A lot of people have come out to say they were ”depressed” at one point or the other of their lives. In fact, this may even seem like one of the most fanciful things to say at this time, by people who advocate for proper mental health care for everyone. Whilst these may seem like a proper thing to do, most often than not, it appears to be medicine after death.

So recently, I heard of a young champ, a ”writer” who ended his life for some reason or the other. He posted his last farewell post on Facebook, detailing the traumatic experience he had dealing with depression. As I hear, this isn’t the first post he put up on this subject matter. He had put up one sometime last year, 2018 before ending his life in 2019. And I ask, what happened from then till when he ended his life? Did his friends, and people around him just read the post as another great poetic write-up? Did anyone reach out to help him? Or did they just scroll through and liked the post. Well, I don’t have so many details of this event, but I am going to make some good assumptions from what I see and experience daily.

Life, as we know, comes with different opportunities and challenges that we all have to face. Most times, what leads to this depressing state is when people are burdened and don’t have an ear to care and listen. A lot of times, those around them are so busy to even notice when something is wrong with their next door neighbour.

So here’s my thought

What if we lived every day actually caring for each other genuinely?  If we lived each day as though we aren’t the only ones here on earth and find time to actually connect with people. Then maybe, people will be able to share the challenges they are going through with us. So many times, people play the ”I am busy” figuring out my life game, that they rarely notice what others around them are going through. DEPRESSION is real, and so should be given the necessary attention.

Here is what I am saying

Take notice of the people around you, their mannerism, how they feel and relate per time. Do not always assume that things are fine with people. Pick up your phone and call people. Don’t allow social media deceive you and make you feel everything is fine with others. Notice the people around you, look out for them. I know that everyone has personal challenges they are going through, but just before someone in your circle ends his/ her life and you post the tribute on your social media platforms with the hashtag ”Say No to Suicide’ caption, ask yourself, did I care enough to reach out to help when they were still alive?