If I stay!

You are sitting alone in a small room when you start noticing that the walls are coming towards you. Every single space around you starts getting smaller and smaller. Starting to roll yourself decreasing the place you hold, you now are only thinking about escaping. How can you leave this immense pressure entrapping you from every single side? You need to go, you need to flee… Can you imagine the pain of being trapped that way? Well, this is exactly how someone trapped with their suicidal ideation feels: Everything is pressure, everything is pain. And the only way to escape all that is by them ending their own life. People usually think of suicide because they see it as the only way to lessen the unbearable pain.

If It took you 60 seconds to read the first paragraph, I want you to know that someone in the world died by suicide. In Lebanon, underestimated statistics state that every 2 days we lose a soul to suicide. We won’t be going into the reasons behind suicide or suicide prevention strategies, the only thing we will be discussing is what to do in case you have any suicidal ideations.

To start with, please know that you are not alone. Even if everything around you is telling you to feel ashamed or guilty, Don’t! It is okay to feel scared, overwhelmed, and tired. Accept your feelings, but never escape the feeling that others try to impose on you.

Next, voice it out. Voice your thoughts and your concerns to those around you. Those that you think will understand what you are going through and will support you.

What you can always do and what is highly recommended is seeking professional help. In the same way, you visit your doctor seeking a cure for physical pain, you need to see a psychologist/ psychiatrist to cure your emotional pain. 

Finally, always have a safe zone to go back to when needed the most. This zone has to have three essentials spaces. The first one is practicing the things you enjoy doing generally in life, it could be anything: dancing, drawing, walking, … The second space is having people that you can go to in an emergency crisis, try to think of at least 3 numbers you might call when you need support.

You can always put Embrace, the National Suicide Lebanese Lifeline in your list: 1564!

And the third space is your safe place, a place you can go to when you need to feel at peace. It could be a real or imaginary place. 

Psychoeducation Booklet: Know Your BRAIN

In conclusion, the take-home message here is that you can be greedy in everything but you can never leave your thoughts and emotions for yourself. You are not, and will never be, alone!