“Relapsing happens sometimes, but it doesn’t make you weak, it makes you stronger battling it a second time and still coming out victorious.”

“Nobody is perfect, but we can change the world by shining the light on someone when their world gets dark. Today I live for others.”

“Trust the process, feel the fear, and do it anyway. Recovery is everything I ever wanted and more. It’s worth it.”

“My journey may not be pretty, but it has molded me into the person still standing here today.”

“I thought that the rest of my life was going to be like that, but there is a way out. Trust me when I say life is amazing once you find that freedom.”

“My youngest son, Benjamin, died by suicide in 2010, which catapulted me a million miles away into a strange new existence.”

“My anxiety and depression brought me here. They brought me to connect with people I never would have otherwise. They got me to write. They got me to see the world and others in a new light.”

“In a way, beginning Narratives of Hope has been a celebration of how far I’ve come. I am still standing and I’m alive, and it has never felt so undoubtedly clear that this is my purpose in my life.”

“I can do my best to educate and empower the everyones to make a difference for their someones affected by suicide or depression.”

“I’m here today thanks to my past self who somehow had the resilience and the bravery to keep going through those countless moments she wished she didn’t have to. If she could see me now, I think she’d agree it was worth it.”

“My journey with mental health has taught me a lot of things: that it’s never over; being vulnerable is a sign of strength; self-love can be quiet and loud.”

“But I know better now, that I dove down to unleash my light, inhaled it until my whole being glowed so white that the darkness faded into a brightly lit jungle of unimaginable color and creation.”

“He was always so loved — I don’t know if that is enough in the face of something as formidable as a serious mental illness, but I wish it was.”

“That is the kind of honesty no one wants to think about. But it is the kind of honesty that will keep me alive.”