How We Save A Generation
I am Aware...
Thank you, all, so much for all of the beautiful birthday wishes! I feel so blessed and am excited for this new decade of my life, and beyond!
It has not escaped me that it is Mental Health Awareness Month. It is my mission to help people live with hope, vision, and purpose. I am not a professionally trained counselor or doctor in this area, but I do believe from my own life experience of losing two family members (my husband and my son) to suicide that I have some very strong feelings about what we could be doing as a society to change the trajectory of this epidemic. My heart is really hurting for our kids and young adults right now as they are growing and starting their lives in a very challenging world.
I have been doing a lot of work on my own mental health lately as I continue to really work through my grief, the changes in my life and career, and how I have been feeling about myself at this age and stage. I want to tell you this is NOT easy work! At the age of 60 I am having to ’undo’ a lot of my thoughts and patterns that are no longer serving me which takes commitment and introspection which can be painful.
Can you imagine a world with me, where we don’t have to get to this place of getting real with ourselves and being courageous enough to make the changes needed to live a more authentic, joyful life?
I would like to suggest the following things to create new generations of mindfully healthy humans, and to go to work on ourselves to set the example for them:
Mind your words to yourself and to others! A self-critical mind usually means we are also critical of others, and before you know it we have created other humans who don’t like themselves very much.
Be brave enough to be your true self in this world, and please allow others (especially those little one!) to be who they are. We have had decades of raising and educating people to become what the world tells them they should be. By the time we are adults, most of us have taken on relationships roles and careers that don’t give us joy and sadly we don’t have the knowledge or courage to change.
Stop comparing yourself to others, and never compare the people you love, and are perhaps raising, to anyone else, either. We have become such an achievement-oriented world that we tend to push ourselves (and them) to DO more instead of just BE. It’s also no secret that social media plays a big part in this and I personally have had to limit my time spent there. There is not ONE person walking around on this planet right now that does not have problems and their own inner critic. See humans as humans, please.
Lastly, lead your day with compassion, forgiveness, self-care, prayer, and an overall desire to just simply do and be your best one day at a time. Those young ones are watching and learning every day from our example.
You are enough and you are loved.
Help show support to Generation Why!
Generation Why's passion is to reach every generation into discovering their WHY, and providing opportunities to pursue it. To help reach those who may be dealing with feelings and thoughts of suicide. Prevention is KEY!
Help show your support and donate to the cause!
