Brave Enough To Be Bliss

eyes on me and I heard in my mind the awful things they must be saying about me. Ironically, I heard the exact same awful things that I always said to myself about me.

When I would see Sylvia, though, I would breathe an internal sigh of relief because she was always so kind to me. She would greet me warmly, seem happy to see me, strike up a conversation as though she might actually like me alright. If there was a time I forgot to bring clothes to change into after work or didn’t have time to change fearful I would miss Kylee’s race, Sylvia didn’t seem to treat me any differently . It was as though it didn’t matter how I looked or if I was arriving right before Kylee’s race because a work meeting kept me from coming at the start of the whole meet. She didn’t seem to even notice or care, she was simply consistently kind to me. Kylee went on to join a larger swim team within a few years and then after we divorced, neither of us maintained the club membership , and Sylvia’s kids went to different schools than Kylee even though they were within the same district. I don’t recall seeing her again until more than a decade later at church one Sunday, when I saw her family in this video that was shown during a sermon. I want to think I sent her a card after seeing the video, but it’s possible I didn’t. While there is no excuse, I might have been too fearful to acknowledge it, knowing that any day I could be experiencing the same situation as a parent and feeling guilty that I wanted to die every day myself. As we sat there watching our kids at swim meets, I can’t imagine we would have even believed it if someone had told us just over a decade later two of our three children would be contemplating suicide. And that’s why it is so important that everyone begin to talk about mental health, suicide and every other hard and painful thing in this life we live, because it’s impossible to predict what future pain could impact you or someone you love. Talking about hard things doesn’t make them happen and talking about hard things doesn’t have to be painful. It is actually the opposite: not talking about hard things can contribute to them happening and can bring the deepest pain. Resources ▪ Dr. Andy Yarborough | Licensed Clinical Psychologist (@mywellco.life) • Instagram photos and videos ▪ . Thinking is how the mind tries to find a solution to a felt problem. The problem is… | Instagram ▪ Suicide Prevention - Keep the Spark Alive (ktsa.org) ▪ GiveMe20 ▪ Home - Sources of Strength ▪ Our son died by suicide. This is why we want mental health resources in schools. - Good Morning America ▪ Grieving Parents Turning Tragedy of Suicide into Hope (flatlandkc.org) ▪ One Of Her Classmates Died By Suicide. Then Another. Then She Said ‘Enough.’ | HuffPost Impact ▪ Dr. Andy Yarborough | Licensed Clinical Psychologist (@mywellco.life) • Instagram photos and videos ▪ Inspiration ・ Motivation ・ Mindset | Follow @elite.mindsets • Via: @simonsinek • #entrepreneur #success #motivation #motivationalquotes #hustle #grind #hardwork… | Instagram “Our human compassion binds us the one to the other— not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” Nelson Mandela Remembering Chad (ktsa.org) (Scroll down to Harrell Family Story - Church of the Resurrection)

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