I got the news that I had lost another friend today. This time it wasn’t an accidental overdose but an intentional ending of life. My friend had struggled with severe depression and anxiety for years before he succumbed to his illness. It is the strangest experience to be a young person and watch other young people pass away before they achieve all they wanted to. This is the experience of being a young recovering person in America. Nowhere else do I know that has suffered the loss of a generation of brilliant, sensitive, loving, warm and kind people like our society has. It seems like every day I log into Facebook and see another young person succumb to untreated mental illness. I guess at this point I’m angry, but also numb. I’m trying to sort through how we handle the unique grief of losing a young life. There is a part of me that feels that we shouldn’t have to. But here we are.
The only thing I can take away from it is to put more effort and more love into the people I know who are still around. Cherish the people & moments you have with them. Be of service to people who need help when they have the willingness to get it. Stay connected in spite of the busy, busy world. Love fearlessly.
