R U OK?

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day (and this is National Suicide Prevention Week). 

If you are a survivor of a friend or loved one lost to suicide, you can join millions of other people tonight by lighting a candle near a window at 8 p.m. your local time. I’ll be lighting one. 

Over 800,000 people around the world end their lives each year. For teens and young adults in the U.S. it’s the second leading cause of death, and about 25 attempts are made for each completed suicide. 

The biggest predictor for suicide is depression (although suicidality only affects a small subset of those suffering depression). Alcohol or substance abuse makes things a lot worse.

Depression is highly treatable.

Suicide is preventable.

My YA thriller, Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, deals with suicide. You could even say that it’s about suicide. It’s a topic in which I’ve long been interested.

It’s still a difficult subject that makes most people uncomfortable. The stigma surrounding it (in the west) is strong. This dates back at least to medieval times and the stance the Christian church adopted toward suicide. Even though we've rethought the old desecrate a suicide’s corpse, bury them at the crossroads, seize all their assets and exile their family, we've still got a ways to go.

If we can’t talk about it, we can’t help someone who needs it--including the devastated family members who survive a loved one’s suicide.

Let's talk about it. We can save lives.

If a friend or loved one is showing any of these signs, ask them if they’re okay.

R U OK? is the name of a national Australian suicide prevention program.

Have them call 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) or text "go" to 741-741.

“The act of showing care and concern to someone who may be vulnerable to suicide can be a game-changer. Asking them whether they are OK, listening to what they have to say in a non-judgmental way, and letting them know you care, can all have a significant impact. Isolation increases the risk of suicide, and, conversely, having strong social connections is protective against it, so being there for someone who has become disconnected can be life-saving.”

The International Association for Suicide Prevention, part of the World Health Organization is sponsoring World Suicide Prevention Day and the quote above is from their site.

The American Federation for Suicide Prevention sponsors National Suicide Prevention Week.

The Signs of Stress

I'm not going to lie. I almost forgot to write this post. Like I've forgotten to do a lot of things lately.

Sometimes you have a bad day. Or a bad month. And things get thrown to the side whether you like it or not.

August has been a terrible month. I'm keeping a positive attitude about it, but that's really just spit-shining a turd.

My mom looked at me the other day and said, "You know, Mike, you're really showing signs of stress." Then she pointed at my eye and said I'm blinking 3,245,987 times per minute.

That's not to say there aren't great things happening. Today I'm going to close on a house. It is not a big house, but it doesn't need to be. It just needs to be my house, and it most certainly is.

The path getting there has been insane and stressful. And losing daycare for my son two weeks before my school year started? I have a new vein in my forehead that I now call my DAYCARE VEIN.

A whole host of other personal and professional tomfoolery piled on, and all of a sudden I'm out of time for reading, writing, finishing copyedits, planning for my school year, and meaningful father experiences.

Oh, and my book was initially supposed to come out this month, but it won't for another year. So I'm kind of sad about that. It deserves a blog post of its own when the time is right. And Amazon still hasn't updated its listing.

My point -- besides tangential whining -- is that I'm learning how much the writing life relies on you keeping other affairs in order. You can't be productive and inspired when a million other tasks are weighing you down. Letting stress get to you has physical and emotional side effects. It's inevitable at times, but I'm really thinking I have to let go and convince myself the world around me will not fall to pieces if I take a break now and then.

Because that's a lot of freaking blinking.

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Mike Grosso is the author of I AM DRUMS, a debut contemporary middle grade for musicians of all ages. It is currently orphaned due to the closing of Egmont USA but is on its way to finding a new home. The Fall Fifteeners have been nice enough to let him hang out in the meantime.

You can visit Mike's website here or follow him on Twitter @mgrossoauthor.