7 ms·

If someone is at that stage where you are contemplating this, here is a tip....just do it. By that I mean commit suicide of your _current_ life, not of life. M

by necro 15y ago

If someone is at that stage where you are contemplating this, here is a tip....just do it. By that I mean commit suicide of your _current_ life, not of life. Most of what weights someone down are the fears, struggles, embarrassment, your peer groups, jobs, etc. If you can't find a way through it, just leave it. Give all your stuff away, give away your money, give up your computer, leave your friends and family, pack a backback, travel to Africa, resign your life to helping others. Think of it as you ended your life and now you're just a servant to others. You don't have any aspirations of success, any ladders to climb, just live to help others. Go without any plans, any future, just go and see what happens. You'll be free. It may be dangerous, you might not make it, but if your other choice was death the day before, then everything now is just gravy anyways. Don't worry about it. This may sound silly and simple and extreme, but if you _are_ at that stage then this should be your stop gap. From now on when you're in that dark spot just think about when you're going to pull the trigger on this, not on yourself. Of course there are lots of things you can do before it comes to this, but if you're past that, just leave your current life totally.

hugh3 15y ago
I'm not sure this is good advice. I have no experience of this kind of thing, but it seems to me that cutting yourself off from everybody who cares about you is one of the worst things you can do. Now you have no money, no friends, no family, and nothing to stop you when you next start to feel like jumping off a cliff. It sounds like a good start to a story, but bad real-world advice. I had an ex-gf who worked on a suicide hotline, and apparently one of the most powerful things they had in their arsenal were questions like "Who do you think would find your body?" and "How do you think it would affect them?" and other encouragements for suicidal person to think about how their suicide would affect those around them. If you're backpacking alone in Africa, having taken your leave from everybody in your life two months ago, it seems like there'd be a lot less to keep you.
- necro 15y ago
  You miss the point. You would have already jumped off a cliff. This is one thing you do before. Of course try all the other things. But if you _are_ on the ledge, consider this before. If you think about it, is the consideration of this is similar to "who will find your body, how will they feel". It's one additional stop gap to prevent the worse outcome.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    I don't think that's how it works. (Also, no offence, but I'm disinclined to take suicide-prevention advice from anyone named "necro"...)
    - singular 15y ago
      I can confirm (at least in my experience + the experience of others I know who suffer from serious clinical depression) this is not how (serious) depression works. I sincerely doubt it would make any difference, largely because of how you feel about life + yourself (it would require an acceptance of capability of doing such things) + the point of trying to help such a horrid world. I think the more immediate consideration of those people finding your body, etc. will be more effective as that's something undeniable and forces you to consider others in a non-fanciful way.
exit 15y ago
you have a romanticized idea of depression.
foobarqux 15y ago
Your theory about the genesis of suicidal ideation is not based in fact. Read "Suicide as Escape From Self".
mark_up 15y ago
This doesn't always work. Remember the tumblr fiasco from two months ago? Mark Rife was a pastor who built a church in Hawaii, found and married his wife Sarah, and settled into doing what he loved. His wife fell off the edge of a waterfall and survived, but died in her sleep six months later. Mark remembered something his wife had wondered aloud a few years earlier after they had just watched Romeo & Juliet... "would he still have done it if he had waited a thousand days?". So he quit his church, his family and friends and used his wife's insurance money to travel the world for 1000 days. Charity work in Asia and Africa, road trip across the USA, etc. 1000 days later he found himself under the Eiffel Tower, and the time had come. He found he couldn't go on. He returned home, set his affairs in order, and ended his life. He also documented the entire 1000 days in a blog that he only revealed in a video released on Vimeo after his death. His dying wish was that people would read it and understand and maybe as a result, respect his decision. Tumblr took the website down. http://vimeo.com/27902552 http://vimeo.com/27902552
artmageddon 15y ago
Someone on 4chan(I know)wrote a comment similar to yours regarding suicide, saying that "If you're willing to give up your life and kill yourself, your life is now yours and the world is your oyster." The comment was hotly debated on Reddit, and one school of thought shared among a large set of people was that this way of thinking is absolutely false. A person who is so unwilling to go through life that they would consider taking it isn't going to be able to just pack his stuff and go to Africa - the depression has set in so badly that they can't even get out of bed to face the day. These people feel their suffering is so great that others would be better off if that person weren't around so that they didn't have to suffer because of him. Of course it's different for everyone, but it's easy to say "Sell your possessions and go forth" - not everyone can do it though, being not willing or able.
lxt 15y ago
The problem with this strategy is what Buckaroo Banzai said: "No matter where you go, there you are." In other words, a lot of the time the things that are making you unhappy are internal: lack of confidence, self-esteem, self respect, or non-functional brain chemistry. Sure, if there's something weighing you down (a bad relationship or job) then change it. But if you're unhappy with everything in your life then what you need to change is yourself.
singular 15y ago
This is dangerous bullshit, frankly. The big problem with it is that in serious depression the source of depression is not your immediate circumstances, rather it's something deeper/more pervasive and by running away you are not actually solving anything. The experience of clinical depression is so unutterably horrible that unless you've experienced it you can't know what it's like. There is a huge gulf between moderate depression and the clinical variety. In the depths of serious depression you barely have the energy to get out of bed let alone help anybody, and suggesting that somebody ought to give up aspirations to help these poor, helpless Africans (which country in Africa I might ask - I think natives of African nations might take offence here) is actually more likely to inspire feelings of guilt and isolation than a sense of hope. The best solution for somebody experiencing issues is to seek professional guidance and not take romanticised + frankly fanciful advice from a random person on a news site. Sorry to be harsh, but this could affect somebody out there and I think it needs to be said.

by necro 15y ago

hugh3 15y ago

I'm not sure this is good advice. I have no experience of this kind of thing, but it seems to me that cutting yourself off from everybody who cares about you is one of the worst things you can do. Now you have no money, no friends, no family, and nothing to stop you when you next start to feel like jumping off a cliff. It sounds like a good start to a story, but bad real-world advice. I had an ex-gf who worked on a suicide hotline, and apparently one of the most powerful things they had in their arsenal were questions like "Who do you think would find your body?" and "How do you think it would affect them?" and other encouragements for suicidal person to think about how their suicide would affect those around them. If you're backpacking alone in Africa, having taken your leave from everybody in your life two months ago, it seems like there'd be a lot less to keep you.

necro 15y ago
You miss the point. You would have already jumped off a cliff. This is one thing you do before. Of course try all the other things. But if you _are_ on the ledge, consider this before. If you think about it, is the consideration of this is similar to "who will find your body, how will they feel". It's one additional stop gap to prevent the worse outcome.
- hugh3 15y ago
  I don't think that's how it works. (Also, no offence, but I'm disinclined to take suicide-prevention advice from anyone named "necro"...)
  - singular 15y ago
    I can confirm (at least in my experience + the experience of others I know who suffer from serious clinical depression) this is not how (serious) depression works. I sincerely doubt it would make any difference, largely because of how you feel about life + yourself (it would require an acceptance of capability of doing such things) + the point of trying to help such a horrid world. I think the more immediate consideration of those people finding your body, etc. will be more effective as that's something undeniable and forces you to consider others in a non-fanciful way.

exit 15y ago

you have a romanticized idea of depression.

foobarqux 15y ago

Your theory about the genesis of suicidal ideation is not based in fact. Read "Suicide as Escape From Self".

mark_up 15y ago

This doesn't always work. Remember the tumblr fiasco from two months ago? Mark Rife was a pastor who built a church in Hawaii, found and married his wife Sarah, and settled into doing what he loved. His wife fell off the edge of a waterfall and survived, but died in her sleep six months later. Mark remembered something his wife had wondered aloud a few years earlier after they had just watched Romeo & Juliet... "would he still have done it if he had waited a thousand days?". So he quit his church, his family and friends and used his wife's insurance money to travel the world for 1000 days. Charity work in Asia and Africa, road trip across the USA, etc. 1000 days later he found himself under the Eiffel Tower, and the time had come. He found he couldn't go on. He returned home, set his affairs in order, and ended his life. He also documented the entire 1000 days in a blog that he only revealed in a video released on Vimeo after his death. His dying wish was that people would read it and understand and maybe as a result, respect his decision. Tumblr took the website down. http://vimeo.com/27902552 http://vimeo.com/27902552

artmageddon 15y ago

Someone on 4chan(I know)wrote a comment similar to yours regarding suicide, saying that "If you're willing to give up your life and kill yourself, your life is now yours and the world is your oyster." The comment was hotly debated on Reddit, and one school of thought shared among a large set of people was that this way of thinking is absolutely false. A person who is so unwilling to go through life that they would consider taking it isn't going to be able to just pack his stuff and go to Africa - the depression has set in so badly that they can't even get out of bed to face the day. These people feel their suffering is so great that others would be better off if that person weren't around so that they didn't have to suffer because of him. Of course it's different for everyone, but it's easy to say "Sell your possessions and go forth" - not everyone can do it though, being not willing or able.

lxt 15y ago

The problem with this strategy is what Buckaroo Banzai said: "No matter where you go, there you are." In other words, a lot of the time the things that are making you unhappy are internal: lack of confidence, self-esteem, self respect, or non-functional brain chemistry. Sure, if there's something weighing you down (a bad relationship or job) then change it. But if you're unhappy with everything in your life then what you need to change is yourself.

singular 15y ago

This is dangerous bullshit, frankly. The big problem with it is that in serious depression the source of depression is not your immediate circumstances, rather it's something deeper/more pervasive and by running away you are not actually solving anything. The experience of clinical depression is so unutterably horrible that unless you've experienced it you can't know what it's like. There is a huge gulf between moderate depression and the clinical variety. In the depths of serious depression you barely have the energy to get out of bed let alone help anybody, and suggesting that somebody ought to give up aspirations to help these poor, helpless Africans (which country in Africa I might ask - I think natives of African nations might take offence here) is actually more likely to inspire feelings of guilt and isolation than a sense of hope. The best solution for somebody experiencing issues is to seek professional guidance and not take romanticised + frankly fanciful advice from a random person on a news site. Sorry to be harsh, but this could affect somebody out there and I think it needs to be said.