MessagesHelp.org
My Colleague Saved My Life
A true story of office words saving a life
This is a true account. A young mother felt increasingly hopeless over time and eventually prepared to die. A colleague at work started the conversation. Now the young mother is a very successful professional, a very nice person, and a huge supporter of lived experience alerting society.
As a young woman, I experienced significant family violence and isolation that pushed me to consider taking my own life.
It consumed my thinking for many months though I doubt that others saw my struggles – family violence can be very hidden, which makes you think it's you that has the problem, that no-one would believe you anyway, and that you are powerless, and that there is no justice for crimes that happen behind closed doors.
The only things that really kept me alive were my children and my work, which gave some relief from the coercive control and prison that was my personal life, but there were times when even that didn't prevent the overwhelming feelings of not seeing any alternatives to the unhappy life that I felt stuck in with no way out.
For a long time, I tolerated my home circumstances, thinking it was better for my children to have both parents present.
It wasn't.
On the day when I had made firm plans to end my life, someone at my work reached out to me.
They saw my sadness and the quiet struggle to stay or leave raging in my head.
They saw my inherent worth and significance of my life beyond the current pain I was experiencing.
In that moment I saw hope and alternatives.
I realised that something needed to change, and I needed to change it for the better, for my children and for me.
Since that day, I wake each morning with gratitude for the life that I have.
I value the small things and realise that the big things that seem insurmountable are a lesson, an opportunity being presented to me to stop, reflect, make courageous decisions, and make each day count.
One conversation changed everything.
Your words can save a life too.