Suicide Awareness: 100 Reasons to Stay

I can personally say that I know someone that has or has been directly affected, by suicide every single year…at least since my senior year. I also struggle quite often with suicidal ideations.

I struggle to cope with significant changes in my life. To give an example of that, when I first moved out west I went into a deep depression that I didn’t see myself getting out of. I have also gone into a deep depression during different stages of my life whether good or bad; graduating from undergraduate school, starting a new job, ending a job, health diagnosis. When I go into a deep depression that doesn’t mean I lay in bed all day and don’t do the dishes, although that can be what depression looks like because I have had those weeks too. When I am deeply depressed I still go to work with a smile on my face and I begin socializing more than when I’m not depressed – I think that could be because I don’t care about anything, even what people think. I also get into a rut of second-hand suicide. (If you don’t know what that is, I urge you to do your research.)

Every September before this September, I have given specific statistics on suicide. I go into details of how many people commit suicide every year (which is 720,000) and go down to the minute (which is 1 suicide every 11 minutes). This year I decided to bring awareness differently. There has been a sweatshirt going around on social media with 100 reasons to stay. We read people post stories of ‘imagine your little sister gets up to go to school’ or ‘imagine what everyone around you would face’. We consistently hear why we shouldn’t go. We never hear why we should stay.

I choose to stay.

With that being said I have made a list of 100 reasons I choose, every day, to stay. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I urge you to make your list of 100. If you need to borrow mine for a bit, that’s okay too…waiting for the Cotton Candy Italian Ice from Fixxology is TOTALLY worth!

1. My loving husband

2. My doggo

3. My kitty 

4. My Kelpy

5. Food – any and all – except the foods I don’t like

6. All my dudes I work with

7. SNOW CONES

8. My random phone calls about random shiz with Megan Cottingham

9. My therapist 

10. The hope of being a mom one day

11. SVU

12. Ugh Greys Anatomy

13. The warm sun on my face (until it’s too much)

14. My sweet little Elle that just blessed us with her presence on earth.

15. City Bagels🤤

16. Dandelions in the spring

17. My brother

18. To hug my dad again

19. To see the proud mom look from my mother

20. To see a moose

21. To make a difference

22. To have grandchildren

23. Become a professor

24. Try a new recipe

25. Visit every state at least once

26. What my brother get married

27. Watch my sister become a mom

28. Reputation TV

29. Learn ASL

30. An Alaskan cruise 

31. Sing in the shower

32. To have many more “firsts”

33. Finish writing my book

34. Get my ears pierced

35. See Kaden graduate

36. Watch Kaden become a father

37. To have long hair

38. To visit another country

39. Try liver 🤢

40. Make an adventure book

41. Take another bubble bath

42. See my dudes become independent

43. Own a foot massager

44. Have a room dedicated to cats

45. Own a Royce rolls cullinan

46. Cotton Candy Italian Ice at Fixxology (which ends this month so maybe I can’t use this one or maybe the reason could be, the hope they bring it back)

47. Gmoney

48. Decorate a house 

49. 1st..buy a house

50. Make 6 digits.. combined income

51. Watching Dutch roll in the grass

52. Seeing miss kitty catch a bird

53. Becoming an influence speaker

54. Getting published

55. Watching the sunset

56. Painting

57. Selling a painting 

58. Save a life

59. Complimenting strangers

60. Peaches😊

61. Planting & growing a peach tree

62. Hosting Thanksgiving

63. Decorating a Christmas tree

64. Growing old

65. Having a 50th birthday

66. Telling bedtime stories to my kiddos

67. Teaching my kid how to drive

68. Arguing with insurance people on the phone

69…..

70. Playing with makeup

71. Trying new hairstyles

72. Watching fall leaves change colors

73. Spending a rainy day inside (doesn’t happen in Idaho fyi)

74. Getting new chapstick

75. Seeing flowers bloom

76. Finishing my podcast

77. Watching Dutch with the zoomies

78. Hearing Kaden talk about his passion

79. Advocating for those that can’t

80. Seeing double rainbows

81. Greasy burgers

82. Taking the sacrament

83. Steak

84. Feeling the love of others

85. Helping someone in need

86. Puppy massages

87. Priesthood blessings

88. Seeing others succeed

89. The beach

90. Hoping to see a dolphin

91. Nugget ice

92. Big Kaden hugs

93. Inside Out

94. Getting a king size bed just to hog it all

95. Having the ‘perfect’ closet 

96. Watching snow fall (for 1 day, specifically)

97. Nature (in the northwest)

98. Pasta

99. Becoming a mom

100. myself

Choose to stay, if not for yourself…then for me💜