Alone Together: Michele on Suicide & Trauma
Meet Michele, she’s still mourning her dad’s loss, 20 years later. She speaks on the rawness of the array of emotions she deals with on the daily. As a social worker, you can see how her professional and personal lives overlap as she shares her experience.
TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide, Trauma
20 years ago I lost my dad to suicide. I was 15 & I’ve never been the same, but I am surviving. I don’t know how, I just do. Largely I was fortunate to find the thing that makes me wake up in the morning. I’ve churned anger into energy to make the world just a little more utopian.
How I blamed myself.. It still pings me sometimes. But it was learning to have empathy for myself that gave me the tools to have better empathy for others - and what a beautiful gift that has been. With that lens I understand that broken people are a symptom of a broken world.
What world can we create that loneliness and despair are uncommon? It’ll take generations to repair the broken psyches resulting from the traumas systems of power heap onto us. Grinding our bones into dust to live.. and the damage it does to our ability to empathize with others.
To be present for others suffering is a burden I chose to take in my work. I’m not a hero, it’s merely an ability - a tool my dad gave me. But so much of the suffering I see is avoidable. We make believe “it’s just the way it is.” It CAN be different...
I don’t think people consciously choose not to see that. B/c there was a time I thought much differently too... In order to think a utopia is possible, practicing radical empathy is a must. By practice I mean every-day-is-a-damn-struggle. But that’s what makes us human - a striving for some better ideal.
To me, it seems rather counterintuitive to a desire to live if you truly believe this is “just the way it is.” Any one who suggests the political isn’t personal, I have news for them..
Sharing and being vulnerable, whether during the hards times or reflecting back, allows others to not feel so alone. Here at The dKol la femme Project we want to stress how our community can lean into one another and be #alonetogether.
xo-d
Be heard at #thedkollafemmeproject
Michele holding a photograph of her dad. Photo courtesy of Plant_Baesed
The dkol la femme Project is a platform created to give a voice to you and your unique struggles by telling your story through art. la femme is where vulnerability meets liberation. What is confidence and empowerment to you? What is VULNERABILITY, and how does it affect you? You, as in the generalized you, the one that isn’t gender specific, or defined by your struggle or labeled by medication. OR maybe you are and want to advocate so your story is heard (insert dKol la femme). At la femme you are allowed to free yourself of the need for perfection. Here you will evoke your self-confidence and take pause so you can reflect on your soul.
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