When Saving a Life Saved My Own

Life Lessons I Learned After Talking Someone Out of Suicide

It was maybe around 2 am. I was awake playing The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion on my Xbox 360 in my bedroom at my Dad’s place. Bathing in the electronic glow emanating from my TV, I noticed my phone screen light up a few feet away from me.

“Hmm, who’s trying to get a hold of me at this time of night?” I wondered. When I looked at the preview, my heart skipped a few beats.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t hold on anymore,” was the only content of the message.

We’d been friends online for maybe a year or so by this point, talking to each other on Skype. Two young teens battling severe depression and anxiety. We looked to each other for emotional support as well as someone to chat to about their day, knowing the other person was genuinely interested.

I took a few deep breaths to steady my nerves, and then called her. She had already taken too many painkillers before she sent the message to me, I knew because I could hear her voice pouring out like syrup. I told her to go to the bathroom and throw them up, after that, to call 911 (being in the U.S).

It took some crying, begging and persuasion, but she eventually did what I asked.

About a week later, one of the hardest weeks of my life, she managed to get back on Skype while laying in the hospital bed. She thanked me for being there for her when no one else in the world was. She talked about being in the hospital and how they were going to transfer her to psych. She wasn’t all that pleased about it but she knew it was necessary.

She asked me why I was crying, I was just happy to hear her voice again.

As time moved on she began to recover from her mental health troubles, though I was still suffering from my personal demons. We spoke less because I didn’t want to trigger her into a relapse of self-destructive behavior. Things got really bad for me and it wasn’t until I began to hit rock bottom that she too reached out her hand to pull me up from my depths of despair.

She reminded me of the impact I had on her life, and how she managed to turn things around for herself thanks to my help. In a light spirit, she told…

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