I heard some news I didn’t want to hear at the start of my work week. Pat from the side panels area on the assembly line told me of a young woman that works on another assembly line who had killed herself during the past weekend. She was a team leader on another line and had worked here for five years.

When Pat began to describe her I realized I knew her. Since she was a team leader more people in our plant were familiar with her. I knew her when she first came to work. I used to work as a trainer and she was a member of a group of workers on second shift who would fill in all around the plant. I remember her well. She was about 19, pretty and smiling, Although she seemed to have a quiet personality, she was still friendly and eager to work and learn. She was a very easy person to deal with.
The young woman hung herself. Here’s the story I heard. She has a friend who works in the AB2 area. She would talk with her about some tough problems she was going through. She was also on medication, probably anti-depressants. That night, this past Thursday, she called the friend and told her she was going to kill herself and the friend hung up and went to her house but it was too late. She died at the young age of 23.
This story is too sad. I saw her when I got off work during the previous week. It frustrates me that a sweet young girl could do this to herself.
You know you have to admit, as you go through years of life, everybody at some time in their life will think thoughts like “I wish I’d never been born”, “I don’t want to go through another day of this”, “I wish I could end it all now”, or “I just want to kill myself!”. And sometimes they start thinking through the details.
I know the side affects of anti-depressants can be suicidal thoughts. This can add to the feeling of hopelessness in a very trying struggle. Anti-depressants are like a crutch. They give you a feeling that will release you from the overwhelming feeling of sadness or stress in your current situation. But you’ve MUST remember they are just a crutch. And you’ve got to have full intentions to get off of them ASAP. But while you’re using them start figuring out ways to pull yourself out of your depressive state. Talking to a good trustworthy counselor helps but if you’re like me the counselor must be a Christian one and founded in the things of God moreso than wrong humanistic teaching that can be found in modern psychology.
I have been through times of depression in my life. In fact, my biggest one lasted about two years. At first I dealt with it by going to work, because I had to, and then coming home being real gripy to my husband and children, and then going to bed and just sleeping until I was forced to do upkeep for my family or go back to work.
It took some time, but then I finally came to the conclusion I seriously did not want my children to have mostly memories of mom just sleeping her days away. I knew I had to pull myself out of this overwhelming slump. I had read once about a woman who went through a difficult divorce. She said the only way she could pull herself out of depression was to help others. So she did and it worked. So that’s what I did. With the help of my sweet sister, Nancy, I began watching her three cute little kids every Saturday while she cleaned her church to make extra money. So . . . as Andrew Carnegie once said, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” . . . and that’s what I did and that’s what I still keep doing. I must say, though, through years of struggling I’ve gained some patience and wisdom that quietly tells me to keep hanging in there, life will get better . . . I just wish this sweet young girl would have truly realized this in her own important life.
I’m so sad for this young woman. There is no more hope for better days for her. She didn’t deserve such treatment. She had great potential. The only thing that can be done now for her is to pray for her family and friends that they would have strength to work through the overwhelming hardship of her loss.
Personally, I fear the day when my children, 14, 12, 11 and 8 will have harsh feelings of hopelessness. To help them in a proactive (rather than reactive), manner, I tell them now, when they say things like “I wish I was never born”, I say, “Don’t you ever say that again!!!!!!! You’re a Christian and you belong to God!! And He has a special plan for your life that no one else could ever fill.” . . .Then I say very emphatically, “Do you understand me!!!?” This kind of attitude MUST be ingrained into their mind. When I say a prayer with my children at bedtime, I can also stress this point by praying, “And dear God, help my children remember You made them for a special purpose in which no one else could fill like they can. Please help Your will to be accomplished in their lives. Thank You for making them and for the privilege that I get to be their mom.”
Another thing I’m trying hard to stress to my children is this phrase, “Man was born for adversity.” When hard times come, consider them a challenge to make you stronger and an adventure. Besides life would get boring if we didn’t have frustrating times to help us grow. This attitude is personally hard for me at times. When life gets frustrating I tend to get rude around my family. I can get a real negative attitude. And to be honest, I know my children deal with their struggles (their homeschooling and chores) in the same way. So as I learn to have a positive attitude, I have to teach them to have a positive attitude. (This gets really hard for me at times.)