I posted this story on Twitter on Friday and there was a lot of feedback. Here is a link to the Tweet and comments.
This is so tragic, and on so many levels. Because of the individual story, that is, her pain, and the pain for everyone she left behind; because of the ubiquity of this (suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in 25-34-year-olds); and because of how clearly she was aware of what was happening.
As one person commented, who among us can’t read her words and relate? Are we immune to this? Or are we all susceptible?
So much to explore with this one. Mental health may be the hardest chapter for me to write in my book, and also the most important. I want to continue exploring themes that touch this—depression, sense of purpose, happiness, isolation, addiction—to the podcast. I’m simply not sure what else to do to try to even put a small dent in this.
As if this story were not yet tragic enough, a friend who is a physician in NYC sent me this message when he saw the news:
“Peter, Tara was one of the RDs at Top Balance Nutrition. I have been sending them patients for years – Tara had seen many of my patients and they loved her. She came by my office to meet me early on in her practice – such a sad story – I lost a friend in Medical school this way – just horrible.”
Sadly, I bet almost everyone reading this email has been impacted by suicide, also.
– Peter
