#IWasMadeFor

World Suicide Prevention Day has always been a big deal to me for a lot of reasons. The topic of suicide has always been so heavy on my heart because I know what it's like for suicide to make sense. I know what it's like to feel so depressed and depleted and broken that I'd do anything to escape it. To feel so much pain that I would be willing to do whatever it takes to make it stop. I know what it feels like to not want to exist anymore, and to honestly believe that death is the better option.

But I also know what hope feels like.

According to the World Health Organization, 800,000 people die by suicide each year. 800,000 people who believe varying versions of the same lie that says hope does not exist. This statistic breaks my heart, because everyone deserves to believe that hope is real and to know what it feels like. Everyone deserves to be and feel seen, loved, enjoyed, celebrated. We all deserve the space to break and also the courage to believe in the good things coming.

Every year, To Write Love On Her Arms sponsors a World Suicide Prevention Day campaign. The title of this year's campaign is "Stay: Find What You Were Made For." Deciding to stay this past year has taught me so much about who I am and what I was made for.

This year has taught me that I am vast. I feel a lot and I feel things deeply. I've learned to claim this as a strength rather than write it off as a character flaw. This year has also taught me that I am brave and I can do hard things. That loyalty is one of my highest values. That I love big and I love fiercely. This year has taught me that my intuition is solid gold and to always trust my gut. I have learned to believe that I am not ruined and that I deserve good things. I've learned how to hope even when it feels impossible and doesn't make sense.

This year has taught me that I was made for love
& stories
& laughing
& sunshine
& light
& hope.
I was made to be a daughter, sister, aunt, friend, nurse and whatever else I decide to be next.

Being a person is hard, and we're all fighting big battles. So let's love each other well and leave each other better; take care of each other and be a little kinder than necessary. Stay. Fight. Be. Become. Break and then be stronger for it and then turn around and help the person behind you. Find what you were made for, then do and be what you were made for.

You never know who you're inspiring to do the same.