No matter how hard it feels. How the volume was slowly cranked all the way from 0 to 10, no matter how intense the pain, no matter how bleak the circumstance, the reason, the loss…

It’s not worth the cost of what “giving up” demands.

It was after hours in crisis clinic and I was off the clock. The tears from her tired eyes soaked her borrowed clothes.

“I’m tired.” She said.

And those two words bore the heavy weight of a fatigued soldier fighting a war she never asked for. She had been admitted for an attempt, thank God she was still alive.

Pale, weak, battle worn. And we just sat. In silence at first. Then in a confession of all the pain, the ramblings of a soul that had been put through hell, tortured, abused.

It wasn’t really that she wanted to “end” her life. It was just a begging, a pleading a want for it to stop. For the noise to quiet. for the pain to end. For the relief to come.

It was two hours later before the conclusion came, death wasn’t the answer to a forever decision. Healing was.

A way out. A victorious choice to keep breathing.

It was after midnight then into the morning, a new day.

She made it. She was still alive. It was better than watching the most beautiful of sunrises.

Over a year later, she found me in a crowd. Successful, alive, happy, beaming with joy. Unrecognizable to the tortured soul that she had once been. She was alive and free. Unforgettable.

Proof of life.

She faced the worst of the worst. She wanted to tap out. But she kept fighting. She kept moving and she found the healing that she so deserved and so longed for.

It’s a night and day difference.

It’s not infinite.

There is a way out.

No matter the hours spent, as a counselor talking someone down from their ledge, the one they never wanted to climb in the first place, the war they never asked for, there is always a way out.

Reframe it.

Release it.

Remove it.

There are always options.

Don’t give up.

DON’T GIVE UP.

Just as suddenly did things change for the worst, they can for the better.

Whatever it takes, to be free. Not one more second on the lie that death is a way out. Not one more minute of self degradation. Not one more day spent normalizing self destruction.

Help is available.

Don’t give up.