"Tell them to look up...tell them to remember the stars."

"Rescue is possible."

"Hope is real."

"Your story matters."

All montras for To Write Love on Her Arms, an amazing organization that I have the blessing to work with. To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. They do this by combatting stigma; the idea that talking about these issues is a bad thing.



In my experiences, both personally and through the organization, I have seen the damage that staying silent about these issues can do. When people have no one to turn to, they lose hope and fall into despair, usually to disasterous results. About 2:15 into the video, Renee, whom the story of TWLOHA was originally centered on, really hits on the idea of community, and the downfall of isolation. This video is so beautiful, just seeing someone who's suffered so much be so open about her experience. She is my inspiration for my belief. That is is more than just okay, it is necessary, to talk about these issues, and all issues of life, in order to ever move forward. The society we live in today put such struggle onto the shoulders of people in suffering, regardless of what the suffering entails. It tells us that it's not okay to talk about hurt, or pain. It tells us that we have to be perfect, at all times. We must internalize all of our problems and issues; be perfect. That is such a false realization! No one can be perfect; we are all broken. That is not a negative thing. On the contrary, knowing this fact gives me so much hope every day. Knowing that I'm not alone, and that others are there for me, and I am there for others is such an amazing experience. America needs to wake up and realize that a society in which you can live comfortably whilst never tepping foot outside your door, never having contact with those around you, is a horrible way to live. Isolationism is the causation for the destruction of this society. If we, as a whole, could live by Renee's example, so many things would improve so quickly. People wouldn't be so miserable all the time, improving not only their qulaity of life, but the quilaity of life for those around them. If everyone's spirits are higher, they are more productive. If you are constantly dwelling on the negavtive things in life, because it's look at as weakness to speak of them, you aren't as diligent; aren't performing as well as you could. If people perform their required tasks better, society improves, whether it be at home or at work. A positive society equals a better society. We can lead the movement to a better society. To Wrote Love on Her Arms, and other organizations just like it, have popped up everywhere. It just takes the few of us who are brave enough to stand up and tells the others that they are not alone. We have to be the leaders to a better future. It is our responsibilities, as people on this Earth, to try and make it a better place, not just for ourselves, but our friends, and all those who will come after us. This does not just extend to taking care of the environment, or keeping a good economy, or saving natural resources; it's about better ourselves as people. We are all broken, and the only way to get down this difficult road we face, and pave it behind us for those coming, is to do it together. Isolationism will cause naught but faulter and failure.