Piece by Piece

I recently did a display at work to highlight Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and have received a lot of great feedback. Someone near and dear to my heart said, 'Wish I saw more of this as a young adult - would have made me feel less alone'. And I couldn't agree more. I speak candidly about my mental health struggles, including my anxiety and history of an eating disorder, but I rarely share my depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. I remember the first time I cut myself. I couldn't tell you how old I was; I just remember breaking a snow globe and using the shattered glass. Self-harm wasn't talked about when I was growing up, you just knew people who did it because people would gossip, but that was it. Mental illness and mental health were not a thing people talked about openly. I cut for many years, mainly because it made me feel. I struggled to cover up some of the marks; until recently, I could see the scars. If I look hard enough, I can see them, but I