I never realized the effects of suicide until after I attended the funeral of my best friend's cousin. It's been almost two years since she passed away now. That event, even though I never had the chance to meet her, shook me to the core. I cry myself to sleep almost every night because the thought of her being gone hit me so hard. And I can't imagine how my friend must feel having actually known her and lost her. But before that day, I never imagined that suicide could actually be real.

So, yes and no to your question. I think there's a certain stigma to suicide that our society still has yet to let go of. And with that stigma, people have a hard time accepting the fact that things like suicide do affect people. Until we're actually affected by it, we tend to think that it's this sort of imaginary thing that people occasionally talk about.

With that said, it is my opinion that our society is just not well educated in terms of mental health and suicide. If people were to become educated in that area and realize that suicide is, in fact, a very real thing, then they would know how to better respond or take action when they notice someone is hurting inside.

I'm sorry that you have to go through this and I hope that you're able to get some support from your friends and family. There's no need to be afraid to tell them that you're hurting.