What it takes to stay alive
I don’t think I could talk somebody off a ledge.
Subtitles are on when I can help it and the same book calls my bedside table home for a long time. It takes me a while to digest words. I need to get a feel for words before I can find what I want to say just like I need to get a feel for people before I can find what they want to hear.
Yeah, if they already decided they want to die, I would find myself at a loss for words. Because I don’t know what it’s like to decide to die.
But what if somebody who made the decision to die learned about what it takes to stay alive and wondered if they could try one last time?
- Create something. It can be a zine or a postcard or a cross-stitch of a tombstone. Creation makes it easier to see life as worthwhile for at least one more day. One more day to see your vision come to life, one more day to see the finished result. And one more day can be a life. Creation saves lives.
- Read an old book. Read something that predates your parents. Read, because this has all happened before. Read, because somebody found words for it. Read, because you are not special. And that’s a good thing.
- Make use of your senses. Listen to the sunbird sing good morning. Sit next to a body of water and let it soothe your heart. Say good morning back.
- Treat your body in kind. It doesn’t have to be cold showers and HIIT. It can be a walk and a vegetable made into soup. As the uncredited saying goes, water and bread can so easily be tea and toast.
- Help someone else. Externalise the love you have been denying yourself to the world. Get out of your own way to be ridiculously kind. Buy a ticket to the pantomime and show up for your friend. Send an e-mail telling somebody what you like about their work. Be a better stranger.