Spread awareness

You know the feeling when you get devastating news? That air sucked out of your lungs. Hard to breathe. Pain in your chest. Sick to your stomach feeling? For a moment the world literally stops spinning and you want it to. The sadness. The despair you feel is so heavy it might just suffocate you because you just don't have the means to lift it. Everything else in your life might be perfect. But in this grief stricken moment you are blinded by pain. A feeling so intense it is all consuming. At some point most of us have felt it... if we are lucky for only a moment.

Imagine living every single day of your life stuck in that moment with only brief sparks happiness that come far and few between. Beautiful brilliant bursts of light that color the darkness but fade as fast as fireworks on the fourth of July. Can anyone really live like that? Sadly more people than you would think actually do. According to ADAA (American Depression and Anxiety Association) depression is the leading cause of disability for ages ranging from 15-44. Currently there are 14.8 million adults in the US living with major depression. Death by suicide occurs once every 16.2 minutes says the CDC (center for disease control) leaving an estimated 4.5 million suicide survivors to carry on with life affected by such tragedy.

Depression is as real as cancer. It is a disease of the mind that although often treatable is incurable. Suicide is not a choice. Just like a heart patient may die from a heart attack even after taking every preventive measure... a person suffering from severe depression my take their own life after seeking professional help and taking every precaution advised. Yet when someone dies from a heart attack we don't call them selfish because they ate that bacon cheeseburger even though they knew the risks. Depression is so largely misunderstood.

Robin Williams among countless others was not selfish. Was NOT a coward. He was genius plagued so deeply by this disease that even the joy he so freely gave to others could not touch the sadness he carried with in. He put up one hell of fight. Battling demons most can't imagine hidden by that smile on his face. Living a hell that most can't understand all while making the world laugh. I don't know that he could have been more selfless. More brave. It is a shame that we live a world that is so quick to judge. Unable and unwilling to feel compassion for what they don't understand.

I will remember Robin Williams for the comic genius that he was. A personality larger than life. The gift of laughter that he gave so many. I will honor him by spreading awareness. In hopes for better understanding and little more compassion towards those that also suffer.

For more information and ways to help visit SAVE.org
If you are in crisis there is help 1-800-273-8255