When my father died by suicide, I found a gap in my world but not only was it the loss of my father, it was the realization as to how alone and almost, messed up, the world is in terms of mental health.
When I think of my dad, I think of his wit, his charm, his intelligence and the fact that he was loved by literally everyone; it seems so wrong that he was refused help when he needed it most and even worse, he was failed by a person who inadvertently decided he was not worth it.
I knew from the moment my dad passed that I was not happy with the world and that something needed to change. However, as I live with chronic anxiety, I never had the confidence to do something about it myself. It was not until I got so angry with society when I reached out for help with my own wellbeing that I complained and someone said: “what’s stopping you from making a difference”.
If you think about it, we all have things that we wish to change in this world, for me it is mental health stigma, yet we all just seem to sit around and wait for things to change; why is that?
There is no guarantee in this life that someone will change or that someone will change it, if we keep waiting and relying on others, then surely there is no promise that we will evolve or grow; if anything that is a weakness in humanity.
Today, I do everything that I can to fight for people who are forgotten and whose voices are ignored. I fight for all people and animals to be treated fairly and with respect. I believe that we have no right to judge another because we simply do not understand what they have been through; I wish more people thought like that.
I never intended to be a mental health advocate, it just sort of happened but I wouldn’t change it for the world. The way I see it, every person who can share their voice or speak out against discrimination is an advocate; the more voices in a minority can grow into a majority and that’s how the world can change.
People die by suicide all the time, usually because of society and stigma but that should not be the case. It is not fair that we openly let people suffer and we fail them because we don’t want to raise our voice or ruffle some feathers. So, even if the one thing you do today is just talking about your feelings, good or bad, that’s a start, we need more of that. (A Guest - Post by the wonderful Soul Charlotte Underwood ; Follow her on twitter & on her blog : @CUnderwoodUK / https://charlotteunderwoodauthor.wordpress.com