I don’t like the word TABOO. – It seems to me that this word is used to LABEL stuff that no one wants to deal with; as if deeming whatchamacallit a mysterious entity helps at all. THEY say it’s harmful except you don’t quite know why and I want to ask, ‘What makes talking about suicide so illicit?’
Simplifying Suicide
Artwork by Inés Longevial
The criticism that some of us romanticise suicide is valid – I’d be lying if I say I never did. (I attempted to visit that in a post I wrote prior to this one, should you be curious.) To talk about the people we’ve lost to suicide; come to terms with their passing (it’s disturbing to ruminate over the looping thought that they saw no out); and then, work out how to reach out to folks in your life who are currently going through hell is HEAVY STUFF. Let me gently interject, if it’s the stigma that’s bothering you than the cause itself, I’m here to tell you – I’m sorry it isn’t easier but keeping away from having conversations around SUICIDE isn’t likely to diminish it in any way.
Processing Pain
image credit: instagram.com/adamjk
To be able to come out on the other side and find solace from tumultuous thoughts is A BEACON OF THE BRIGHTEST KIND. – Using a journal to acknowledge and document what you went through enables you to take steps that are more steadying than shaky.
Encouraging Versus Ejecting
image credit: instagram.com/merakilabbe
Overcoming something tempestuous causes us to seek out what’s encouraging, after. Don’t forget, there’s a considerable amount of ejecting to do, too. This isn’t to say that you’re to discard your life of before. In your way of healing and receiving (whatever works for you, friend), you might have to bid farewell to things that look good on paper but don’t do nothing for you.
Who You Gonna Call?
Artwork by Gemma Correll
GHOSTBUSTERS! I wish we were dealing with sweet-faced Casper (or his vile relatives), but these are demons from the fiery pit of hell. A lesson I learned, around the time of the passing of Anthony Bourdain, is that nothing ever truly goes away. Deleting and shredding doesn’t work for the intangibles in our lives, and I can’t say for sure that mental illness disappears without a trace through medication and therapy – ALONE. Mental duress ranges from active/volatile to highly DORMANT (so worrying) – we NEED to constantly keep check/take stock.
Mindfulness and the Medium
image credit: instagram.com/tomaszmroart
Returning to the viewpoint that suicide is at times regarded in a light that glorifies its causes/effects, there’s THAT mindfulness one needs to harness and hone when it comes to lapping up material through AV or literary mediums. – My recounting comes in the form of a series I watched in 2017 called TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY. The stories the narrative presented were powerful, relevant and importantly, UNDILUTED. The criticisms that the series received were to do with its graphic nature, which – belatedly, I realise, were valid. That the series talks about uncomfortable subjects that most MAKERS shy away from? It made me trust that its impact could be positive. I must recognise that while some of us perceive their intent to be worthy, everyone doesn’t consume material in the same manner. Disclaimers help; only we know our boundaries, the healing process insists that we tread carefully and be aware of what may trickle in.
About the author-
Deeply fond of black coffee, dawdling at bookstores and snail mail (receiving and sending) – Roanna Fernandes likes all things simple and somehow quaint. She hopes to open her own shop of curiosities, one day and fill it with all that she creates and curates.