At the end of my why — is suicide
Tim Ferris was carefully planning to end his life in 1999. He is not unique — more than 20% of college students also consider suicide.
Suicide is the #2 cause of death for college students. Anxiety is a bitch.
For fun — 25% of freshman will drop-out of college because of mental health problems.
What the F*CK.
I have to do something.
Suicide is the tip of iceberg for the crisis of mental health the US today. I can’t sit idly by when we have the educational resources to reverse this trend. This stuff isn’t rocket science but it also requires learning and practice — just like math.
Would you rather learn peace and calm and self confidence — or calculus?
I fully understand all the fear of stigma. 15 years ago my darkest days were magnified because of my fear anyone would see beneath my veneer. I was literally torturing myself with fear.
Raise your hand if you are doing the same — so afraid of stigma that self destruction looks more appealing.
It is scary to admit that you can’t keep your emotions together. That’s ok, it scared me when I couldn’t do it either. But I leaned into the fear and got help. I got a lot of help.
I’m terrified that one of my kid’s friends will be a statistic. That I will have to hold them while they sob out their anger and sorrow and frustration. That I will see that kids parents and know we could have helped them have a different outcome.
Mental wellness is a skill set. It’s 50+ skills that anyone can learn. If you can learn to do math, you can learn this stuff.
Put another way — do you really want to crash into the iceberg?
I can’t stay quiet any more.