The eve of Jan 30th, 2018 tragedy struck my family in the worst way. This was the day we discovered my 21-year-old cousin Paul had committed suicide.
It pains me to even type those words, yet its a reality our family must live with forever. Paul was such a bright spirit with a smile that could light up any room and a personality you had no choice but to fall in love with. In high school, he was an all-around student-athlete who was loved by many and after graduation, he went on to serve our nation proudly as a soldier in the United States military.
What makes this tragedy even more heartbreaking is this isn’t the first time our family has experienced this pain. Just two years before, Reggie, Paul’s big brother, at 22 years old took his own life when life became too much to handle.
Here we are reliving the pain, agony, and shock yet again. So many unanswered questions followed with regretful thinking of “how could I have not seen the signs” or “what more could I have done to stop this.” See the thing is Reggie nor Paul appeared to be suicidal. However, therein lies problematic thinking-there is no standard appearance for depression!
Depression is a nasty animal that paralyzes so many people. It doesn’t matter the