Redditor u/Slow_Koala wanted to hear from those who have been touched by the sadness of losing others to suicide. Maybe anyone reading can find some solace or a reason to reach out. Life is often unbearable and lonely but there is always a chance for life to turn around. Extinguishing your life is an extreme you can never take back. You are loved. And to those left behind it can often feel like a prison sentence that never sets you free. We all need to check in on one another more. Be kind.
People who were mentioned in someone's suicide note, what's your story?
1.
My amazing cousin killed himself when I was 16. He was 26. We found the note a few weeks later. He'd singled out immediate family members with a love / good bye note. No one else except his 4 siblings and parents. Then there was my mum, my brother, and then me at the bottom. "You're going to grow up and be amazing; you're going to be a star."
You don't know weight till your fav person in the world thinks the world of you, and that's the last thing they think before they die. And you have no idea how to live up to it. Haunting and inspiring. You don't forget it. gmewhite
2.
I was a teenager and a close friend killed herself. She wanted me to have her music collection, leather jacket, and a screenplay she wrote. Eyeletblack
3.
My mom committed suicide after finding out that her tumor was malignant, she had just lost her father a year before and her mother died in treatment for cancer,she laid everything out notes to specific people and how she wanted things done. I have always been an old soul and she planned for me to find her as I would be the reasonable person I am. But that day I was invited to try out for the debate team so I came home late..... and my little sister was the one who found her. pootiemane
4.
He just got back from Iraq - Marine. He called me up. I wasn't very close to him but we both served. Michael. We talked for about two weeks before it happened. He talked about how much he loved his Mom; his brothers in the service. I thought everything was normal - that's crap we all talk about after coming home.
He shot himself over the phone. I still can't get the sound out of my head. Navy took two weeks to send a chaplain. Then NCIS was involved.
When I returned home I found out that he had left a ruck for me. He left a rucksack for me and I couldn't do anything for him. He gave it to his parents and had asked them to give it to me. DevilsAdvocate9
5.
One of my best friend's mother committed suicide and had a little message for her two children in her suicide note. It was mostly straight down the line apologetic, and an explanation as to why.
Spinal Cancer which metastasized and it was only downhill for her. She did her taxes, paid all her bills, got all her paperwork in order. Wrote a farewell note and swallowed a bottle of painkillers.
I only managed to see a small section of the note as I was the second non-emergency person on the scene (my friend was the first), but enough to know it was her way of trying to make things as painless as possible for everyone else. Engineer_Man
6.
Best friend hung himself in his room, New Year's Day 2015 - left one note saying "I'm so sorry mum." on his bed. She found him. So he didn't mention me, but it's the same topic I suppose.
His mum and I scattered his ashes together, and she gave me a jacket and necklace of his that he always had on. Haven't taken the necklace off since, and I have a tattoo of his birthday on my arm - it really affected me heavily, and I developed bad anger issues from it all. I'm much better now though. puffpuffpoo
7.
Even though nobody was mentioned, this specific note stays close to my heart to this day.
My dad is a retired detective, and one day a few years ago he came home from work visually distraught. I usually talk to him about his day so I asked him what was wrong and he told me a young man (I think around 22) had committed suicide and the note broke his heart. I asked what it said and it read something like "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger. I hope to see you both someday in a place that's beautiful". MikeCozzi
8.
I remember when a friend of mine for ten years died. It wasn't a traditional suicide note. He told me over Skype. I still have the conversation saved. He told me how good I was to him. he told me how I was like the angel Michael to him. He called me his brother.
I tried to stop him. I tried to contact his relatives. His sister didn't care. I still remember that night. I kinda remember him waiting for Diablo 3 to be released. He died before it did though.
I wish he was still alive. We would have laughed at the irony, Diablo 3 was @%& terrible when it came out. Oh my dear beautiful J, you would have really hated the piece of crap it was on release and we could have both laughed at the irony that you stayed alive long enough to see it. Illigard
9.
Used to know this woman, who's ex husband killed himself and used his suicide note to tell his children (6 and 8 yo) that their mummy killed him and not only was it her fault, but theirs too. And the police dealing with it had to be physically stopped by the mother from reading it to her damn kids. One of the more fucked up stories from where I live. CollaborativeKale
10.
My girlfriend killed herself a little over a year ago. We were fighting and I was planning to leave her. She sent me a message that she hoped her death weighed heavy on me for a long time while I was sleeping. She was dead in the bed next to me when I woke up. Now... regrets and nightmares. It's 4:30am. I'll go to sleep when the sun comes up, sleeping at night it's difficult. 502red428
11.
Around May two years ago, my mother tried to commit suicide and I remember finding the note after I found her. When I went to "find her" I thought she was somebody trying to break into our house so I went and grabbed a knife, it turns out the noise I heard was her body flopping against the door. I ended up being able to make sure she was okay but I think what killed me most was her note. She stated that my two sisters and I were all she had and (since we were growing up) she didn't have us anymore. She wanted to leave this world so badly. HedgeHog02
12.
I was thanked in my friends suicide note. I was with him the night he passed. I didn't know he was going to do it, he just said he was upset and wanted to meet up for a smoke and a chat.
I believe I was the last person to see him alive. It really hit me hard when I found out he had passed.
He was a good friend. We'd known each other for about a decade. Went to the same school and lived around the corner from each other. He told me his secrets that he couldn't tell his girlfriend or family. AJTwinky
13.
Not really a suicide one but a end-of-life-goodbye one. He was sick and almost got through it, but at the end with weak immune system, cold was enough to get inflammations on everything... He was almost 18. Till this day the perfect person for me. And most important of all, the only real rock i had who was there from the moment we first met. He wanted to make me laugh. He always did that. Made a few jokes. Terrible ones, dad ones. Still made me laugh, and made the pain more durable. I miss those lame jokes... hero3na
14.
It was my dad's note. Telling us boys that he is so proud of the men we've become and even just writing that now makes me cry happy and sad tears. It's been just over four years now.
He was a great dad and had such a profoundly positive impact on who I am today. Even with how it ended, I couldn't ask for a better dad. He was something else. I'm a lucky kid.
Wish he could see me now. I'm glad he knew my wife before he went. Wish he could meet my nephew.
I love you dad. I still miss the hell out of you, you ornery old hippie. You're still my hero. Thank you. For everything.
Welp, wasn't expecting that wave. Thank you. It's been a minute since I cried for him. aph0r1zm
15.
He sent me a separate note the day before he did it.
"Thanks for existing, i love you"
I just answered with "love you too, bud". I had no idea. Aenator
16.
My stepdad committed suicide when I was about 7 years old. In his letter he wrote he was lonely since my mother left him. He mentioned that he couldn't live anymore because I didn't want to see him anymore and didn't want to talk to him on the phone when he called my mother the last time. I found him hanging on my grandmother's attic where I played hide and seek with my cousin. At this time he was 3 weeks dead.
It's difficult to think about it. Even though I know I was just a child and I had my reasons (he was an alcoholic who was violent when he drank), I still feel guilty. And for that feeling I hate him. On the other hand I know he was a wreck, destroyed by his parents. But neither my mother nor I were responsible for this. littleweirdbutok
17.
No note, just a phone call to preteen me that had stayed up too late because my single-parent mother had gone out looking to score whatever pills would sate her addiction (kid me had no idea, adult me now knows it was obvious). I don't remember the call completely, but I do remember being annoyed she'd kicked me off the dialup by calling in.
She said and made me promise a bunch of things that felt very serious but also very confusing and then we hung up. Police officer knocked on the door a few hours later and everything changed. No one but me knows about that phone call, especially not my brother.
I'll be the exact same age she was, down to the hour, in roughly 500 days. I keep a countdown timer on my phone. One of the promises she made me make was to live longer than she did. Oceanis46dot1
18.
He wanted me to know he loved me. That it wasn't my fault. That I was "the best friend anyone could want or have." That I should have his car. That he thought he was going mad and was saving his brother and me from the maddness.
I showed the note to my therapist. She thinks he had schizophrenia. His Mom did.
Its been 6 years. Im still not over his death. Doubt I ever will be. DANDELIONBOMB
19.
I had lived with Craig for about eight months before he killed himself. I'd known him for four years before that. We met at a metal gig and he was a short, thin guy who almost got trampled in a mosh pit. We knew he was going a bad way as soon as he started hanging out with the group we all knew did heroin and similar regularly (maybe two months after we started living together). I tried to help him as much as I could.
There were so many nights when he got back, clearly out of his mind on whatever it was he'd been doing and he'd stay on the couch in my room instead of going to his own. He didn't like to be alone. I spent a lot of mornings cooking for him and generally making sure he was okay, but it was like shoveling snow in a blizzard. He'd just go do the same the next night. At the end of that eight months we found him in his room having overdosed. We realized it was intentional when we read his note.
A lot of it was about his family problems, his mental health and just generally how terrible he thought the world was. Then near the end was a little paragraph about me, thanking me but saying I made the decision to end his life more complicated. He asked me not to blame myself. He then rambled some more and it was clear he'd been high whilst writing it. I moved out a month later. FifthForestMonk
20.
When my stepdad, and the father of my three younger brothers killed himself last month, he didn't leave a note. What he did do (I didn't even know that was possible) was queue up three texts, so they wouldn't be received until the morning after. At exactly 8 am, all three of my brothers received a text from him.
To my two oldest brothers (19 and 17): "I love you forever. I'm sorry, I just can't live with this any longer."
To my youngest brother (13): "You are a very special boy and I'll love you forever xx".
I asked my youngest brother if it had made it better or worse. He said worse. LifeIsAKindergarten
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Friendship is not something that can be forced.
As with any kind of relationship, it all depends on compatibility and chemistry, and thus must happen organically.
On the flip side though, it can be pretty clear when people will not end up being your friends, owing to a fundamental difference in personality or beliefs.
Redditor Chola_Bhatora was curious to hear the type of people the Reddit community would never become chummy with, leading them to ask:
"What kind of person would you never be friends with?"
Basically, people who aren't nice
"People who don't apologize for their mistakes, blame others for their problems, and generally complain without doing anything about their situation."
"Oh, and generally a**holes."- NerdyDadGuy1981
"People who are overly rude and constantly laugh it off and call themselves 'a**holes' as if it is an uncontrollable character trait."- Business_Grand7665
Don't you twist my words around!
"People that distort what you said."- Mystery_I
Just take some responsibility!
"People who can never admit they're wrong about anything."
"No matter how blatantly wrong."- Rachfo44
Say it to my face!
"The kind that talks behind your back."- 0breanna0
Are you sure about that?
"Someone who thinks they already know everything."- Fragrant-Crow-4513
Then why aren't I laughing?
"Someone that puts you down in front of your other friends.. 'as a joke'."- motherfugher
How well do you actually know them?
"People who abuse your trust and honesty to manipulate you, especially when they disguise it so well."
"Had it one too many times, thankfully gets easier to spot but some people are freakishly good at it."- nothingjustk
Yeah, well mine's better!
"One uppers."- BasedChickenTendie
Someone needs a lesson in self respect...
"I'm a woman."
"Had a classmate strike a conversation with me for the first time."
"2 minutes in said she doesn't have female friends because all women are b*tches."
"Why are you talking to me then?"
"What do you think you are?"- Minimum_Greedy
As Jane Austen famously explored in Pride and Prejudice, first impressions can often be misleading.
But every now and then, they can give a crystal clear depiction of who someone really is.
Which could easily be someone you do not want to be friends with.
Age is just a number.
We all hope to stay sexy until the end.
And even when we don't feel sexy, maybe there will be people who still think we are.
Redditor Debonair-Redditor21wanted to hear about famous crushes that enter into the "Harold & Maude" territory. They asked:
"Who is the oldest celebrity that you still find attractive?"
All Hail Dame Helen Mirren. Is there anything else to say?
How Old?
"Viggo Mortensen. Very handsome at 63."
Sidewalk_Tomato
"Damn, he is 63? Time flies."
2020UsernamesBeLike
Personas
"Elvira. Cassandra Peterson. Just turned 70 and still breaks out that amazing personality at every appearance."'
darkoath
"Omg. I saw the BEST suggestion for a movie ever. Elvira & Dolly Parton playing their stage personas as estranged sisters who must team up to fight evil."
ClothDiaperAddicts
Fatale
"Jane Seymour. 71 and still stunning."
MrWiggy89
"Live and Let Die. Incredible, and she'll always be in my mind as Elise McKenna, the woman so beautiful that Christopher Reeve's character went back to be with her in Somewhere in Time. I totally get the desire."
pcserenity
Hey Su...
"Susanna Hoffs (63)."
analogtapes
"Plot twist: She sang 'Walk Like an Egyptian' because she's immortal and actually lived in Ancient Egypt."
RealisticDelusions77
"She was my first crush. As a child, I used to watch MTV for hours just for that moment when she cut her eyes in the 'Walk Like an Egyptian' video."
3lon_Mu5k
I am loving this list. I didn't think I would.
Maddy
"Mads Mikkelsen."
Valuable-Mango368
"You mean my daddy issues? Damn I love that guy. Death Stranding really nailed how he can come through a medium without much hassle."
This_User_Said
My Biological Clock
"Marisa Tomei."
LiveShowOneNightOnly
"Jesus, I was so confused watching the new Spider-Man movies with Marisa as Aunt May. Marisa Tomei is perpetually the hot 80s chick in my head, also Jennifer Connelly. I was watching Morbius and seeing Requiem for a Dream and Career Opportunities. I AM OLD, I GUESS."
Forge64
Oh Captain
"Christopher Plummer, right up until the day he died at 92."
amodernjunecleaver
"I first saw ‘The Sound of Music’ as a child, watched in many times, know if off by heart etc. I didn’t watch for many years."
"Then as an adult I wanted to introduce a friend’s kid to it, put it on, and spent the next couple of hours absolutely dumbstruck by how hot Christopher Plummer was. It had never struck me before that time but go**amn have I never forgotten. No wonder Maria chose the Captain, if I had to choose between him and God I know who my pick would be."
niconiconeko
Hey Tim!
"Timothy Olyphant. Idk what it is about him. He's so funny, charming, and handsome that I don't care how much older than me he is."
throwaway-getaway122
"I do NOT get tired of watching him; he is so expressive. In Catch and Release there's a scene where he and Jennifer Garner are having a conversation that consists entirely of gestures and facial expressions. Hilarious!"
BugsRatty
"He is amazing in Justified and Deadwood... hell, pretty much everything. I think I just found out I may have a man-crush on the dude lol."
Captain-Hornblower
Yeoh
"Michelle Yeoh."
ThinkIGotHacked
"Ugh she was a vision in Everything Everywhere All at Once. And if she doesn't win all the awards then there is something really wrong with the voting system."
HoaryPuffleg
YUM YUM
"Oof that's kind of a hard one. Without looking up a bunch of older actors I think I'd have to go with Ken Watanabe. I think he's in his early 60s now and the last time I saw a recent pic of him he was still looking fine AF. And an honorable mention is Steve Carell... I don't know what it is but he keeps getting hotter with age. I was never attracted to him until he did that silver fox photo shoot with the paint brush 'n shi*t."
total class act...
"Stanley Tucci. As my mom says about handsome men, he just looks like he smells good."
vonye25
"He visited our hotel a few weeks ago. As the Restaurant Manager I was specifically told that my team and I were not to treat him any different to other guests, which we don't."
"The guy was a total class act polite, courteous, and always keen for a chat. Never mentioned his movies, his career, but was there to enjoy time with his family, and they themselves were also a joy to be around. Can confirm he always had a slight aroma of warm cinnamon."
valdezverdun
Well that is a long list of sexy. Cheers to growing sexy with age.
We all have our likes and dislikes when it comes to food.
While some people might not be able to stop eating certain foods, the very thought of that same food is enough to make others gag.
Then there are the foods which are universally considered to be delicious delicacies, the foods so revered that it is assumed that everyone must find them delicious.
Only, not everyone does.
Redditor jamboamericano was curious to hear which foods the Reddit community couldn't quite grasp the appeal of, leading them to ask:
"What a food in your opinion that quite simply sucks and you don’t understand the hype behind it?"
How do you make a bland food even more bland?
"As someone from the UK I don't get why so many people here love mushy peas."
"I find peas relatively tasteless and gross as they are, mushing them just makes the texture gross as well."- MHC1905
More healthy, less tasty...
"Zucchini pasta."-- dannyboyhou
Who knew fish eggs would be so popular?
"Caviar."
"I feel like whoever buys that sh*t doesn't actually like it and uses it to flaunt their money."- WapplesAreDelish
Hold the guac!
"The early 2010s was a difficult time for me."
'"I f*cking hate avocado."- drunky_crowette
No matter where it came from...
"Liver."
"Just......no."- Efficient-Bee-1855
You mean it's supposed to burn my tongue?!?
"I don't get the appeal of chili that is made to be as hot and spicy as humanly possible, to the point that it hurts to eat it."
"'I make my chili with the five hottest peppers known to man and a dash of snake venom to kick it up a notch'."
"Why?"
"That, and tofu."- MiddleAgedGamer71
Brand names can never beat homemade!
"Industrial ice cream."
"The taste is WAAAY worse than the handmade one."- pensodiforse
Disgusting AND dirty...
"Beets."
"My wife tried to convince me to like them by saying 'they taste like dirt!'"
"Needless to say, this was an ineffective approach."- Neilpuck
Just because it's healthy, doesn't mean it's good...
"Kale."
"I don’t care how it’s prepared, there’s just no point to it."- protogens
Butter makes everything taste better... or does it?
"Lobster."
"I uh, I don't get it.'
"It always tastes a bit flavorless and just alright to me."
"Then I see people dip it in butter and yea thats fine and all and it tastes great, but then I get the feeling I'm just tasting the butter and what the f*ck is the point of this $30 dish exactly?"- Sonder332
Some might accuse those who dislike the above-mentioned foods of not having a distinguished palette.
But maybe their palette's are so distinguished, that they know when they're tasting a fraud?
Either way, to each their own.
Happiness is one of those abstract and amorphous things that nobody can quite pinpoint, but everyone knows when they feel it.
It can be triggered by lots of things - a great meal, an old friend, your favorite episode of your favorite show...
Happy looks different for us all, but maybe that's whyReddit user MyForever_NameNow asked:
"What’s the happiest you’ve ever felt?"
The same situation might make one person miserable while making another elated ... so let's see where Reddit finds their joy.
Time Traveling
"Once I was driving from Philly to Las Vegas. On one leg of the trip, I got a bit of a late start and I really wanted McDonalds breakfast (this was before they served it all day)."
"My clock said 10:22, and I was about 15 miles from the next exit, so I knew I would never make it. Then I crossed over a time zone and my clock changed."
- lump77777
"incredible"
- BennyJO_
"Not gonna lie, best story I've read in awhile. I'm now happy for you."
- McAvoy4Potus
"It’s like the world willed you into having breakfast that morning , like the earth moved in order to give you what you needed … kind of epic"
- Avatorn01
A Poetic Mishap
"This might be weird but I keep thinking back to this and how I will never have this experience again: I was 13, nerdy, loved to draw, grew up rural. My Grandma lived close to a big city."
"Went to visit her in the Summer and then went to an Japanese culture fest in said city. I was overwhelmed by the experience. Bought two super sweet Neon Genisis Evangelion artbooks."
"When I went back to Grandma's place by train, I missed the stop and got off one stop later. It was quite late already, but a warm summer night. Next train back would come in 2hrs. These two hours, alone during a summer night with two artbooks at a tiny, rural train stop surrounded by trees and absolutely nobody else around were pure bliss. A weird feeling of peaceful, 'liminal' joy that I can't properly explain. Different happiness than love, etc."
"I haven't really told this story to many people because I know nobody would truly understand the feeling, and that would kinda ruin my memory."
- SkyPirateVyse
"That’s dope. Sometimes we forget to just stop and really enjoy the moment"
- PalaSS9
Endless Young Love
"I remember being in 8th grade watching a movie at my girlfriends house and we were giggling and commentating on the movie the whole time and just remember thinking I would marry her someday."
"I’m now 29 and we still giggle and commentate on every movie just like we did when we were kids, but that “young love” feeling is a very happy feeling for the first time, I’m just so lucky to still have those feelings 15+ years later"
- Lets_Huff_Paint
"Ok, but seriously, my spouse and I are also several years into our honeymoon and it's quite nice."
- HugeMisfit
"Marriage goals."
- bjcm5891
It Was A Good Day
"Oh gosh"
"Most recently,"
"Trying to keep up with my dog and boyfriend as they ran along the beach chasing the dolphins that were in the water. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. It was a sunny March day so nobody up and down for miles, just us. The bright blue sky and glimmer coming off the ocean - the salty mist while the waves crashed and the cold ocean at our feet."
"God I haven’t ever felt so alive in my whole life. It was one of those moments where I wished I could have it burned into my memory. Like I could tuck it away and live in it forever."
"That was a good f*cking day."
- Paisleymypup
"That’s so wholesome, it sounds like a scene right out of a movie"
- modestmandrakeman
"I feel happy reading this"
- Barcelona539
Mutual Crushes
"Me and my crush were hanging out one time, and all I could say was. “I like you… a lot.” And she just smiled and said “Me too.” Has to be the happiest day of my life so far."
- Mrcoolguy900
"I live near a popular district in Kansas City and I once bumped into a young man who'd just professed his love for someone, and he was so overjoyed I couldn't help but ask him what had happened."
"It made me really happy to see how happy he was."
- FearGunner
"Same thing happened to me, she told me she liked me and it took me about 3 minutes to fully process what she had said and how to respond. I ended up saying "same bro". Well we're together now but that was a pretty stupid response."
- Sir_Thiccness_69
" 'So far' I like your attitude"
- Homerpaintbucket
Sobriety
"now"
"5 years sober"
- Feels2old
"Mad respect, I'm very proud of you internet stranger!"
- therealfakechips
"I'm right behind you with 4 years. Congrats Feels great to be me again"
- m3x_aries
"Respect"
- MyForever_NameNow
That First Cry
"When my youngest was born, she really wanted out and my wife made it to the bathtub, and she came out with my help, she had the umbilical cord around her neck and I managed to get my finger under that and free her, that first cry made me so happy."
"She's eleven now and sitting on the couch right now eating chocolate and watching TV..."
- agent_fuzzyboots
"Kid's first cry was mine was well."
- vsmack
"Wow that's insane! Great job! When the umbilical cord wraps around the neck it's called a nucal. It can be pretty dangerous, especially in an emergency labor setting."
"I always thought I would never want to deliver a baby. And then we learned about emergency labor situations in the EMT course I took and I fell in love. Once again, great job! That must've been scary."
- boo_boo_technician
Being Present
"I was taking a walk in December last year when everything around me in my personal life was hell. A feeling of calm washed over me, and I started to look at how beautiful the sky was. I was crystalline in that perfect moment, and cried a few happy tears."
"I realized that being "present" is the only way to truly live... The past and the future are illusions and robbers of life. Ever since then I am extremely committed to finding beauty in every day things. I frequently feel very happy now, because I never run out of things to marvel at."
- cobraCL
"Dude I feel that. I lost my mom and several other family members in the last few years, went through a major breakup, had to move a bunch, plus all the COVID stress. I'm stressed a lot, mostly tired, but sometimes a moment washes over me and I'm just so grateful to be alive, looking at a sunset or a tree or the Christmas lights in my living room. Something about going through hell really makes you appreciate life."
- crunchypnwtrash
Vacay
"Grew up kind of poor, didn't go on my first vacation until I met the woman who'd become my wife. We went to Tennessee and got a cabin with a hot tub and some good muscadine wine."
"It was night time, gently thundering and raining, little bit of a mist coming in to the high rise porch we were on where the hot tub was, just relaxing, buzzing. To me it felt like the perfect setting, perfect feeling."
"Tied with that, she's the first person I saw the ocean with. Took over 6 hours to drive there, we unpacked, walked out to the ocean about knee deep, holding hands. The sound of the waves and the seagulls. The look of happiness on her face as she stared out."
- IROBotNeverDies
Frogging Around
"My ex, who loves frogs to death, asked me to go frogging with her early unto our relationship, not to kill them, just to catch and identify them. Its one of my happiest memories and without a doubt the most attracted I've ever been to someone."
"Its actually when I started to realize how strong and how smart of a person she was which combined with everything else made be fall head over heels."
- SplitttySplat
"Thats awesome man. I'd be happy to have had a unique experience like that too. No dinner and a movie, Frogging!"
- EmseMCE
Y'all ... that got unexpectedly emotional, didn't it?
Turns out that for most of us, the thing that makes us happiest is one another.
Humans are adorable sometimes.