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Susan Pieper's avatar

This hit hard. I'm a warrior too — not the uniform kind, the kind who keeps showing up whole on the outside while carrying something real underneath. I recognized myself in 'still operational' more than I expected.

I wonder if this shows up differently by gender — for a lot of men, I think it's shame and failure. For a lot of women, I think it's loss and grief. Different flavors of the same struggle to look whole while carrying something real underneath.

Maybe the best suicide prevention isn't just awareness — it's normalizing recovery itself. Recovering from shame. Recovering from loss and grief. Making it normal to still be in the middle of that and be seen.

Jon Macaskill & Will Schneider's avatar

I would bet you’re right in the difference in how it shows up … across genders and personality types I bet.

Robin Dunn's avatar

I swing between both sides. I went back to therapy when I recognized where i was at before it trashed my family relationships again. John and Will thank you both again.