okay, perfect.

Contrary to popular belief, suicide rates in the holidays are actually dramatically lower than in the spring.

And it makes sense:

Emotions build up over time,

Things start to overflow and boom.

You can‘t take it anymore.

The overwhelming joy that flows from everyone in the springtime is enough to trigger that one specific feeling and its pretty strong this time.

So is holiday season the reason behind so many unfortunate “last notes?” It can be. There are so many reasons why the holidays can induce depression and that depression, if not treated correctly or at all, can explode when someone mentions Spring Cleaning and everyone is just happy while you’re on a train to crazy town. (See what I did there)

1. Finances.

You’re hit with Black Friday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and all the birthdays in 2 months. Not even…. It’s like 1 month… collectively.

Between impressing the neighbors with a grand party or the kids pressing you about the most expensive things, the mind washing of the holidays is a real thing: these people won’t love you unless you make them feel loved and that’s through gift giving.

I was watching Emily in Paris (binge watching**) and at one point, the marketing team made a comment about not advertising Valentine’s Day because everyday should be Valentine’s Day and I think that applies here. (In regards to showing affection and appreciation. It shouldn’t be restricted to one day.)

So debt.

2. Emotional depression

Lack of family, or a home, or illness, or death.

All of these things can drive the mental health of an individual a lot farther down and we know it. It’s one of those things where you might have a neighbor over who is a widow of 20 years with no children to keep her in the spirit, and that’s pretty much all you can do is try.

DISCLAIMER: If you’ve lost someone to suicide,

IT IS NEVER OKAY TO THINK IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT.

People do things and you cannot be held responsible for their actions. It’s a horrible thing to have happen to you with all the “what ifs” and the “I should’ve known”

No

No you shouldn’t have

There’s no way.

Because look at Robin Williams.

Super happy guy, hurting in private. Nobody knew.

All you can do is be kind to everyone you meet, not judge someone for where they’re at, and continue to offer your ear and hand to everyone. You’ll never be the superhero that saved every victim, but you sure as hell can make them second guess their decision and stay longer.

Okay, rant over.

3. Lack of time

With holiday shopping, the parents in town, college papers due, semesters closing, registration for next year, traffic getting increasingly worse its no wonder why we don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done.

It’s crammed into a little window of 6-8 weeks of pure chaos and everyone is on their last brain cell of patience and going to snap at the next driver who stops at a yellow light.

Prioritize your day.

We all have jobs, or something that requires our attendance.

Get a pocket calendar, and a big one and write everything down.

Make sure that you have You time.

Start saying no to events you don’t want to be a part of.

Prioritize time with family you actually want to see.

*I say that as so, because there are those family members we can just erase their contact information in our phones and no one would know…*

Life is already hard, and you shouldn’t let it get any harder- there are things out of your control that can cause your entire plan to change. But you are responsible for how you react to these things and THAT REACTION SETS UP THE REST OF THE DAY.

Suicide is an ongoing problem we’re combating every single day.

And if you feel like you aren’t being heard, don’t assume that no one wants to listen to you.

You are not the first one to question life, or experience emotions- there is help.

And it’s not stupid to ask for it.

You aren’t weak- you’ve gone through that and you’re still breathing? Dude… look at you go…

Suicide Hotline: 988.