A Letter to the Lives Still Here and the Souls We Remember

Welcome to September. This first Womb Wellness Wednesday is not only about healing the womb. It is also a moment to honor the lives that have come through it. September is Suicide Prevention Month. Today we pause to acknowledge every person who has survived a season that felt impossible. We honor the brave souls who kept moving forward when life became too difficult to understand and too heavy to carry alone.

There are people around us who have fought battles we may never see. Some have smiled while silently trying to survive. Some have continued showing up while feeling completely empty inside. Others have reached a point where getting through one more day felt like an impossible task. Today we celebrate every person who found enough strength to stay. We honor every person who reached for help. We also honor those who are still trying to find a reason to continue.

Survival does not always look powerful from the outside. Sometimes survival means getting out of bed when your mind is telling you to disappear. Sometimes it means answering the phone instead of isolating yourself. Sometimes it means admitting that you are not okay. Sometimes it means allowing another person to sit beside you until the darkest part of the moment passes. These actions may appear small to someone else. To the person fighting for their life they can mean everything.

The womb is one of the first places where life is protected. It is where a body begins to form before the world has the chance to see it. When we think about the womb as a portal into life we are reminded that every person around us once depended on protection. Every person needed nourishment. Every person needed a safe place to grow. That need for care does not disappear after birth. People continue to need protection throughout their lives. They continue to need support when the world becomes too heavy.

I would like to believe that every life remains connected to something greater than what we can see. I believe that when our time on this earth ends we return to the greater womb of the universe. We return to the source that first held us. This belief makes the time we have here even more sacred. It reminds us that we have a responsibility to protect life while it is present. It reminds us to offer love before someone reaches their breaking point.

Today we also remember the people we have lost to suicide. We send love to their memory. We send strength to the people who continue to carry their absence. We do not define them by the way they died. Their lives were greater than their final moment. They were people who loved. They were people who dreamed. They were people who mattered. Their stories deserve to be remembered with compassion.

To anyone who is struggling today please know that you are not a burden. You are not weak because you need help. You are not beyond support. The pain you feel right now does not have to become the end of your story. This moment can change even if you cannot see how yet. Your life may still hold love that you have not experienced. It may still hold peace that you have not reached. It may still hold a version of you that is grateful you stayed.

Please tell someone what you are carrying. Give another person the opportunity to help you hold it. If someone tells you that they are struggling then believe them. Stay present. Listen without judgment. Help them connect with support. No one should have to prove that their pain is serious before they are treated with care.

Today we care for the womb because it represents the beginning of life. We also care for the mind that must continue carrying that life forward. We honor every survivor. We remember every person we have lost. We make space for those who are still struggling. Most importantly we remind one another that hope can exist even when it cannot yet be felt.

If you need immediate emotional support then call or text 988. Free and confidential support is available at any time. If you are in immediate danger then call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Welcome back to The Womb Edit.