Practice What You Preach

Trigger Warning from Author: The following poem briefly mentions suicide and emphasizes mental health issues. This poem is meant for mature audiences.

“Check on your friends. You never know what they are going through.”

I read this hypocrisy on someone’s Instagram story. Ironically, I read this phrase every time someone dies by suicide, yet the same people who preach it in public never practice it in private.

Instead, they are too much of a coward.

People will know their friend for 10 years, but cannot be vulnerable with them.

People will know all the details of their sex life, but cannot discuss taboo topics.

People will know all about the heated arguments with their partner

or how they're still grieving their childhood pet

or why they believe in God

or the meaning behind their favorite song, but cannot have sensitive conversations.

It is easy to talk about acceptable things, but no one wants to dive beneath the crippling iceberg because it is scary below the surface.

Because “we are all adults with our own problems.”

Because suffering in silence is better than being a burden.

So, I would like you to imagine how your friend feels when you are twiddling your thumbs on social media, preaching that you should always check on your friends, yet you never ask them about how they are feeling.

- @quietvisualmind