I remember driving over the Gold Star bridge as a child (the summer before the fifth grade), on the way to an art fair with my mom, and seeing him. He appeared to be standing on the opposite side of the fence of the bridge, and if I remember correctly he was wearing shorts. My [...]
I have never been the one to bring blind optimism into any situation. I mean, I’ve always believed in hope, and having faith, but never that everything will work out exactly how I want. Frankly, the world doesn’t work that way, and I knew this even as a young child. My parents used to tell [...]
“My arm is a spider web, my brain is a raging fire and anyone who wants to tell me I’m fine doesn’t know what’s going on in my mind.” That is what I wrote on November 13th, not knowing that just 4 days later my friends and colleagues would be taking me to the ER [...]
The Last Ride By Megan Lewis I am thirteen years-old and have just finished a soccer game. Even though I ran my heart out and assisted in the scoring of several goals, I'm unhappy with my performance. I SHOULD have tried harder, I SHOULD have run faster, in short, I SHOULD have been better. Shoulders [...]
#WorldSuicidePreventionDay reminded him that it's only the choice of the individual that truly matters. “I know, too, that death is the only god who comes when you call.” (Roger Zelazny, Frost & Fire) Since a young age I’ve thought about death, dying, or suicide almost every day—through adolescence when I had my depressive and “serious [...]
Talking about mental illness is weird. Everyone has these ideas of what depression looks like, what anxiety looks like, what schizophrenia looks like... But really they wouldn't be able to tell someone with these illnesses if they knocked on their front door. Imagine your house is on fire. It's been burning for a long time, [...]
Kevin Hall's ruminations on his own suicidal thoughts. Yesterday—in front of my two younger children—I nearly choked to death on my grilled chicken dinner. What should have simply released a heavy sigh of relief in my wife’s ear at bedtime contorted into a sleepless night of revisiting another recent near miss: Last month I wanted [...]
One Man. Talking About His Life With Depression. "I'm ready to tell my story. It's time." That's what I heard from Stuart Walker, owner of Clubhaus Fitness, a tall, muscular guy with a boisterous laugh and incredibly busy schedule. He knew I was researching Perfectly Hidden Depression. He had listened to me talk about how [...]
There’s so much that I could truly say, but would it make sense whenever I said it, probably not. But it’s always worth a shot right. Truth is, even whenever it seems like its not the right thing to do, don’t be afraid to take a chance. That’s what I live by. What doesn’t kill [...]
I received a meme once from a friend that said “Someone’s therapist knows all about you” and it dawned on me how scarily accurate that probably was. I’ve left quite the wake in my 37 years of life and not all of it has been sunshine and roses. The majority of my life, save the [...]
