“I’m going to kill myself.”

All around the school, in classrooms and in the halls, I hear this phrase.

It’s tossed around jokingly, multiple times a day.

There isn’t a day that I don’t hear it.

This honestly creates a big problem, whether it’s realized or not. Hopefully, I’m not coming off as one of those “social justice warriors,” because I know how annoying and ignorant they can be.

If anything, I just want to get one small thing across. I’m not afraid to admit that I sometimes have suicidal thoughts. I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve attempted to act upon those thoughts. Despite the fact I have help for that now, it still hurts me mentally when I hear others say it.

It almost comes off as encouraging.

It mentally drains me when I constantly hear people go about how they want to kill themselves over a test, over something they don’t get, or something as small as losing a pencil.

I already deal with my own thoughts of self-harm, and I don’t want to be indirectly encouraged to do so. It even overshadows people who really do feel suicidal, as it makes them look like an attention-grabber and possibly gives the impression that they’re overreacting. It dismisses people who really feel this way.

I have a feeling me writing this probably will get a few eye-rolls and people thinking that I’m overreacting. That exactly proves my point and why I wrote it.

Hopefully, people take me seriously and not dismiss this. I feel like it’s incredibly important for the positivity of this school.