The past week has been a week full of emotion for me as I prepare for the launch of my book, Hope after Suicide, on August 12. My daughter has set up Linked-In, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon Author, and Facebook accounts for me to reach out to whoever can hear—so that I can tell my story. And she has helped to schedule a blog tour where the book will be reviewed by bloggers who have huge followings—again, so I can tell my story.
But why tell MY story when there are hundreds of others’ stories worth telling? I have asked myself that a hundred times as I have Tweeted or blogged or Facebooked or emailed in an effort to gain my own “followers.” A selfish endeavor in a ME world.
Why share MY story? I ask myself as I lie in bed trying to recover from a computer induced brain freeze. The answer has come to my heart as many times as I have asked it. Why share MY story? So others can feel safe to share their own stories—stories that may have been buried for years or even decades.
My own heart breaks a little each time I hear another story—a grandma whose fifteen year old grandson took his life, a new mom who wanted to end hers. A daughter whose dad chose death over darkness, and a mom who nearly died when she felt she could no longer live. A doctor who described her teenage son as “wailing the most panged wail she had ever heard” when he lost a best friend to suicide. A husband, a son, a daughter, a friend—stories buried in the hearts of those who loved them, still love them.
Why tell my story? So others can tell theirs. For it is in the sharing of our stories that we can begin to heal. It is in the sharing of our stories that we can remember. We can open our broken hearts and allow love to penetrate deep within. And with that love we can wrap our arms around another broken heart. We can lift the “heavy laden.” It is in the sharing of our stories that we can truly bear one another’s burdens. We can become the Savior’s hands for we can feel his light heal our once broken hearts. Why share our stories? It is in the sharing of our stories that we become whole. And we create space for others to share theirs—so that together we can LOVE.
