The World Needs Your Story to Keep Going...
This September, for Suicide Awareness Month, all of us at Obsidian Skull Press are asking you to stay. Hold on. Fight the greater battle, but let others help carry your armor when it gets too heavy. Do not shut out the ones who do care.
TL Hutton | Founder | Senior Editor
9/2/20262 min read
“Sometimes in a man’s darkest hour he must test himself. Test himself to prove his worth to no one but himself, to fight the greater battle…” — TL Hutton, From the Darkness Writing Mythos
I wrote those words some fifteen years ago for my Darkness Writhing series. While I’ve never personally faced suicidal ideation, my characters did. And fiction, after all, is just a reflection of real life.
In my life, I have known too many people who suffer from this exact weight. I have lain friends in the cold ground who took their own lives because the darkness became too great to bear. I have had to send the police, both here in the States and in Mexico, for frantic wellness checks after receiving an obscure text from someone saying they just couldn't take it anymore. And I have had to face it recently with a loved one battling severe depression, cutting, alcoholism, and suicidal tendencies.
I get it. I truly do. Life can be a cruel bitch, and people can be even worse. Despite what many may think, my own life hasn't been all apple pies, rainbows, and unicorns—I've been beaten down by this world and the people who occupy it more times than I can count. But here is what I’ve learned: What happens to us is not what’s important. What we decide to do about what happens to us—that is the only thing that matters. That is everything.
To quote Rob Flynn of the band Machine Head: “They will always kick you when you’re down/But don’t you let their kicking keep you down/You have to trust in yourself/You must believe in yourself/You have to follow your heart/You overcome/Improve/Endure.”
I know so many of you feel like no one cares, like you are entirely invisible in the agonies you suffer. I know it feels like the world has turned its back on you. And when the people who do care try to step in—the ones who want to see you heal, be happy, and thrive—that pain often makes you push them away.
But please hear me: that is the darkness talking. It’s a tenacious little demon perched on your shoulder, whispering sweet, convincing lies into your ear.
That voice is lying.
You are not a burden. Your pain is valid, but your life has irreplaceable value, even when the darkness is so thick you can’t see an inch in front of you. You are worth fighting for, even if the only person you need to prove that to right now is yourself.
This September, for Suicide Awareness Month, I, and all of us at Obsidian Skull Press are asking you to stay. Hold on. Fight the greater battle, but let others help carry your armor when it gets too heavy. Do not shut out the ones who do care.
If you are struggling, hurting, or feeling like the darkness is winning, please reach out. People do care.
Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US & Canada), available 24/7. It is free and confidential.
Text HOME to 741741 to connect with the Crisis Text Line.
If you are outside the US, please reach out to your local emergency services or find a crisis hotline specific to your country at findahelpline.com.
Please stay. The world needs your story to keep going.
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