September is Suicide Prevention Month, and the 10th, is World Suicide Prevention Day. Over the years my attitude towards these attempts to bring awareness has evolved. In a lot of ways, it has transformed with my grief.
The first year, it made me angry. Prevention? Seriously? How could I have prevented something he kept hidden from everyone?
Year two, I had chilled out a little. I was able to clear the clouds enough to understand the term prevention wasn’t an attack on me. Prevention is about resources and raising awareness.
I have no recollection of year three. I think I was just numb and skipped ahead to October.
Last year, I took the opportunity to try and educate others. I wrote about the power of our words. You can read that post here.
I can’t believe I’m sitting here for my fifth September trying to navigate the month and my life. But I leaned on myself from the previous year and reshared an old post, I didn’t have it in me to come up with anything new and insightful.
Each year, I have lit a candle or two for Tony on September 10th.
It’s a good example of how we change year after year in our grief. Each year can bring a new emotion and a different energy level to the grief table. However, there are some consistencies we’ll always carry for our loved one.
