“Hope says you belong. Just knowing that there is something bigger out there that has a light and actually says that we’re worth it, says that we belong, just having that word hope in the sense that you belong is powerful. It’s simple, yet so powerful.”Tagged: Hope, Powerful
“I was an abused, angry kid who broke a lot of laws and didn’t really care. I lashed out. I was emotionally disturbed.”Tagged: Child Abuse, Anger, Emotionally Disturbed, Lashing Out
“At the age of 13 to 18, to go away to a girl’s prison and during that time experiencing brutal self-harm, I would stop at nothing to destroy myself. I would beat my head against the wall until I bled. I would rip out my hair and use it to strangle myself. I bit myself. I friction burned myself with…”Tagged: GIrl's Prison, self-harm, Masochism, Self-Destruction
“My story really starts at the age of six. My parents divorced at the age of 4, but my story really starts at six and it starts in a dark, brutal place—being abused by my stepmother for two years, being beaten with 2x4s, being told I was a devil’s child and that I didn’t deserve to live. Being locked…”Tagged: Hope, perseverance, Abuse, Torture, dark
“My father was a great man. He loved unconditionally. He gave of himself endlessly. Through out his life my father struggled with depression and thoughts of suicide. I was not aware at the time though that he was struggling, as the last time I saw him I was eight years old.”Tagged: Fathers, Unconditional Love, Depression, Suicide
“Faith for me plays big around the aspect of love and hope. I have had the opportunity to have people come into my life and love me with a Christ like love. Through that love I am empowered to continue my story and spread that same love to others. To have faith in something bigger than yourself…”Tagged: Faith, Love, Hope, Opportunity, Christ
“Growing up for me I experienced some great pain, from abuse, to rape, to even the loss of my own father to suicide. Not only did I already struggle with my own mental illness, but to have these experiences it further my depression to thoughts and attempts of suicide.”Tagged: Pain, Abuse, Rape, Suicide, Mental Illness
“Mental health is a taboo subject. No one wants to talk about something that they can’t see, thus can’t understand. People have this misconception about suicide because society has portrayed to them this corrupt concept thus they believe it. If we change the conversation we can change the way people…”Tagged: Mental Health, Taboo, Suicide, Society
“A semicolon is used when an author chooses not to end a sentence. We are saying you are the author and the sentence is your life and you are choosing to continue. The best way to put the conception of the semicolon was that it was conceived in a perfect storm scenario.”Tagged: semicolon, Project Semicolon, author, Perfect Storm, Sentences
“I just want to say to those struggling, that you need to remember your light. Because if you look back to the times you have struggled before, you will remember that a light came and you know that it will come again.”Tagged: Struggle, Light
“At the age of 13, I was raped for the first time and then shortly after, the blame was placed on me for a hit list and bomb threat that took place at my middle school right after Columbine. So, I went away into the system from the age of 13 to the age of 18, where I struggled with more self-injury…”Tagged: Rape, pedophilia, columbine, Self-Injury, Suicide
“Sharing my story has been not only healing for others but healing for myself. And I’ve been able to just create something more because I didn’t want people to feel the pain I felt losing my father and the pain I felt struggling with my own depression and attempting to take my own life.”Tagged: Healing, sharing, Depression, Suicide
“Really from a young age, my story was darkness, pain, self-injury, suicide attempts and loss. I spent my adolescent years not knowing who I was, struggling with mental illness, struggling with self-destruction, rage, and all the other things that are part of mental illness and part of people who…”Tagged: Darkness, Pain, Self-Injury, Suicide Attempts, Loss