“Do you remember how I told you this would utterly destroy me? How our kids needed every ounce of you? You knew how much we needed and loved you. I reminded you every single day. But you didn’t plan that moment, did you? Because if you did, you would have known how it killed us too. You wouldn’t have done it.”
‘You promised you’d never leave us. We had plans THAT day. Our son, at 10 years old, had to call 911.’: Wife says although her late husband’s suffering is done, theirs has ‘only just begun’ after his suicide
‘My arms are tingling!’ The wind knocked out of me. ‘Um, are you having a heart attack?’ My anxiety went from zero to a million.’: Woman with Generalized Anxiety, Panic Disorder declares anxiety ‘can’t take away my strength’
“I was at lunch with friends, light on sleep, and full on caffeine. I was already wildly anxious after having a bad breakup, an unexpected job change, and being hit by a car (I mean, seriously?), and then, out of nowhere, I couldn’t breathe. I was so nauseous I was profusely sweating. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you,’ I was told. I was damn close to calling myself a nice little ambulance. I didn’t leave my house for 2 months.”
‘I was going to kill myself, but I smiled. I laughed. All of it an act. I was just biding time.’: Young man urges others struggling to ‘talk to someone’ because you are not a ‘burden, weak’
“I came home early on a Sunday morning. Still drunk from the night before. I had a plan. I executed my plan. I say this next part with absolutely no dramatization; if my wife had stayed in bed for another 10-15 seconds, I would absolutely be dead. I would’ve been dead that morning. I owe my life to her. And I wouldn’t be here to tell you that things get better.”
‘I could never enjoy date night with my husband. Guilt was always there to haunt me, to blame me for being relaxed and lazy.’: Woman learns to accept her ‘imperfect life,’ says today is ‘the perfect time to feel happy’
“I thought happiness could be measured by my achievements. I pushed to get good grades in school, to get a high-paying job. But after all of it, I still wasn’t happy. My excuse was always, ‘I’ll be relaxed and enjoy my life only after [x]. I’ll do that after I achieve [x].’ I always had something to pursue. I was never good enough for my own love, or anyone else’s.”
‘I met my husband at 16, got pregnant at 17. He told me he was ‘different’ than all the other teen dads.’: Young mom overcomes ‘the ugly’ in her life, urges us to ‘put mental health first’
“My mental health took a turn for the worst. I found myself not wanting to clean, cook, or shower. I barely wanted to be a mom. Noah and I began arguing. One day, I spread a bottle of pills all over my bed and my mom walked in. I was forced to go to the hospital and get help. I just wanted to go back to being the person I was.”
‘Today, I felt depressed. Instead of fighting it, I copped a squat in a dressing room until I was ready to put my big girl pants back on.’: Woman says depression is ‘not an option,’ accepts she’ll always be ‘the girl with a little less light’
“It was an average day. I dressed my kids, sent them to school. Then, I started to feel numb. Most days depression blends into our every day lives, but not today. Today it felt heavy. The world fed me the idea that depression looked like staying in bed every day, and because I was still rising and thriving, I thought I could get by. But when I entered the dressing room, the pain slipped in so fast I had no choice but to sit.”
‘After that baby was inside me, it was over. Heroin was no longer an option. I had no choice.’: Woman beats childhood addiction, now ‘8 years sober’
“I was addicted to heroin at 15. It was no longer enjoyable. No longer an escape, but a hell I was creating for myself. Maybe a few seconds of serenity, then reality always slapped me in the face. I’d feel so guilty about the damage I was causing to people that loved me, the pain I was inflicting on myself, the hatred and anger I felt from all the things I had no control over. I thought this was the only way to feel this good. That little heartbeat was the sound of a chapter of my life closing.”
‘I got in my car and drove away from my family. I didn’t know where I was going, but I wanted to go far away, for good.’: Mom feels ‘guilty’ the things she’s ‘always wanted’ bring her ‘the most heartache’
“I walked past the TV playing Mickey Mouse, the mess on the floor, my husband sitting silently on the couch. I started driving and I wasn’t sure where. I just walked out the door and left. Because I have a husband and healthy kids, I’m supposed to ‘enjoy every second’ even when I’m slipping. So, I suck it up because there’s real people going through real things.”
‘This is what my house looked like for 3 weeks. This is depression.’: Woman explains why depression ‘isn’t you,’ claims there’s ‘light at the end of the tunnel, even if your brain tells you there’s not’
“I had no motivation to brush my teeth, shower. No motivation to play with my kids. I was anxious my husband was going to leave for someone better who had their stuff together. It was me sitting on the couch responding to messages of ‘How are you doing?’ and replying ‘really good’ knowing it was a lie. You need a friend that doesn’t care if your house is a mess because you need to clean your mind before your house. And you need that friend to be you.”
‘Mama, a man touched my butt.’ It’s not every day that your daughter jumps off the playground slide and says this. But that’s exactly what happened 2 weeks ago.’ Mom gives 5-year-old a powerful lesson to end silence surrounding sexual abuse
“My heart immediately started beating out of my chest. ‘WHO? WHERE IS HE?!’ My head turned in every direction. ‘He left.’ Next came a flurry of questions. ‘Was it a tap? A pinch? A squeeze?’ She burst into tears. ‘A squeeze. It hurt A LOT, mama.’ My daughter doesn’t want to go to the playground anymore. She’s scared. I am LIVID.”
