A few weeks ago, my friend Shauna put up a Facebook status addressing mental illness and her battle with it. As someone who had recently been hospitalized under a suicide watch, she wanted to let others who are suffering know they are not alone and that better days are ahead. She posted this following a number of young adult suicides in her hometown. As she said herself, she is loved, smart, and from the outside, so put together. I would add talented and funny to the list as well. People probably wouldn’t have guessed her struggles and by sharing them, she hoped to give others the ability to speak up, get help and know they aren’t alone.

Since I met her a few years ago, I have had great admiration of her for her industrious nature, her never ending self-motivation, for seeming so self-assured, and her post came as a shock to me.

Today, another friend was featured in an article on suicide in The Irish Times.  (http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/suicide-and-schools-it-s-okay-to-talk-about-it-1.2374738)

Vicky, like Shauna, is a wonderfully talented, cherished, funny and intelligent woman.  She’s overcome challenging teenage years, as detailed in the article and from the outside looking in, she’s got it together. And yet, this fabulous lady tried to kill herself a few years back.

Unlike Shauna’s post, I knew this article was coming. Vicky told everyone so I was prepared but still heartbroken for her as I had been reading Shauna’s post. I already have great respect for these two and these brave statements have only added to that sentiment.

After I read Shauna’s post. It reminded me of some lyrics from the song “Come into My World”

“Come into my world

So lovely from the outside

So dark in here the demons dance and twirl

And find their pleasure frightening this girl

If you are brave then come into my world”

With courageous people stepping forward, sharing their journeys with mental disease, we should all be able to talk more freely about it. And so, for the same reason Shauna and Vicky shared their stories, I share them again, because if anyone is suffering, know that there is help and there is hope. And for those of us who love and care for them, let’s be brave and come into their world.