I’ve lost 3 men in my life to suicide, 1 very close and very recently. What resources can I engage with to help. Literally what can I do, outside of generic advice, what’s an action I can proactively take. Are suicide hotlines still a thing? Is being an operator on there possible and what qualifications are there.

  • bitteroldcoot@piefed.socialEnglish
    671·
    2 days ago

    I know you’re struggling, but you’re not going to like my answer.

    I walked that particular path when I was young. Did the counseling, took the pills, went to group therapy. The whole stick.

    In the end nobody can rescue you, you have to choose to live. And it’s hellishly hard to do that when depression is crushing you. It is a shear act of will by the individual, and you have minimal ability to influence it.

    In the end, I chose to take the pills, and do the counseling, but they never really helped. I kept saying to myself, well if this doesn’t work out, i can always kill myself tomorrow.

    What really helped was just finding something to do. I did scuba classes, karate classes, sculpting classes, living history reenactment, nature hikes. I took an enormous effort to do them. It was like walking through syrup and the world was always gray. But if i’d stopped, i’d be dead.