In June of 2016, I submitted a story through Project Semicolon for publication into a book that’s being designed to relate to young people 18-25 years old. According to the original email before I wrote and submitted my story told us this, “We have joined forces with HarperCollins to bring forth a book with stories and pictures of those who found the hope to continue their story. This book is being designed to be relatable to young adults in the age range of 18-25 years old. We are asking that all stories when written keep that age range in mind”. My story did just that and included the name of my book, That’s All I Got! Thrival: A Widow’s Journey After Suicide, because a lot of young people deal with suicide on a regular basis, especially when dealing with the pressures of college and the military.
I hadn’t heard back from Project Semicolon about my submission that is until Thursday night, February 9, 2017. I received an email from HarperCollins with a subject line of: “Your story has been selected for the Project Semicolon book!”. To quote the email, “Together with Project Semicolon, we are writing to let you know that your story has been selected to be included in our upcoming book, PROJECT SEMICOLON: YOUR STORY ISN’T OVER! HarperCollins is publishing the book on September 5th later this year. We are very excited to be including your submission, and we are grateful for the time and effort you put into creating it—you are helping to spread an incredibly important message all over the world…Please keep an eye on Project Semicolon’s social media in the coming months for more information on publication info, events, where you can purchase a copy of the book, and how you can tell people about this amazing project”.
It’s very exciting news! It’s also proof that patience and perseverance pays off. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the book in the coming months and I’ll share that information. Project Semicolon’s mission via their Facebook page is “Project Semicolon is a global non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and love for those who are struggling with mental illness, suicide, addiction and self-injury. Project Semicolon exists to encourage, love and inspire”. I encourage you to look it up and share its mission.
Yes, there’s black Friday, small business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, but did you know, “That’s All I Got!” is available every day online or in person? Why not invest in it for yourself or someone else that may benefit or to have a different type of read.
Once you’ve read it, I would love for you to post a review of it on Amazon.com and let myself and others what you think of it and how it benefits others. Thank you in advance.
Recently, I created a Facebook page to serve as an author page to promote my writing and authored books. I hope you’ll take a walk over there and take a peek.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 450 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 8 trips to carry that many people.
For months, the Milwaukee Public Library Tippecanoe Branch (aka the Tippecanoe Library), went through a complete renovation. While a temporary location housed some of the books That’s All I Got! went to an off-site storage location. I’m happy to announce that the Library has completed its transformation and all the books have happily returned to their shelves for the Grand Opening!
Please join the Bay View community in welcoming the books to their renovated home on Saturday, December 12, 2016 from 10am-1pm! See the photos below for more information.
I know That’s All I Got! and her author waits for someone to borrow her (at all three libraries where it lives: Tippecanoe, Milwaukee Central, and Cudahy. We hope to see you there!
For many people, the holidays aren’t very joyous, but difficult. While normal holiday stresses exist, other not so normal unseen stresses appear. For people who have lost a loved one for whatever reason, grief joins in for the holidays. With winter settling in, the gloomy and cloudy days, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and depression become part of some people’s days. They require sources that can aid them: books, friends, and support.
Do you know someone who has been or is going through a tragic situation or life event whether or not related to this journey? Do you know anyone this holiday season that would benefit from reading, “That’s All I Got! A Widow’s Journey After Suicide”?
Why not give the gift of healing this holiday season. Why not direct them to sources that may assist in their grieving. Reach out.
What amazing words revealing a deep concept! And yet the words have only recently revealed their shine and impact in the world.
I’ve been using the words for a good length of time now thanks to a friend who showed me the wrong way of using the word “survivor”. After the tragic loss of my husband, I became informed that I was a survivor (of suicide), but when I shared this on an Authentic Self~Kosmic Consciousness retreat, a new friend said something that it makes me sound like a survivor of cancer–that I survived it. This had me thinking that she’s right, it did sound that way. I came out alive from a tragic loss, but I wasn’t the victim, I didn’t merely survive, I thrived as a result. Since then, I’ve noticed thrive in so many places. I even used the word “Thrival” in the subtitle of my book and submitted the word with definition to the Merriam Webster online dictionary and they posted it!
thrival:
(noun): the state of thriving
Submitted by: Karen E Voss from Wisconsin on Apr. 15, 2014 16:21
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According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, thrive means:
Definition: thrive
intransitive verb \ˈthrīv\ : to grow or develop successfully : to flourish or succeed
3: to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances —often used with on <thrives on conflict>.
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In 2014, I started listening more to a contemporary christian radio station, K-LOVE. At the time, I required music to connect me spiritually and to keep me balanced. They played a song titled Thriveby Casting Crowns. I immediately connected to the song and downloaded the song from Amazon.com. Liking the song so much, I created my own Thrive radio station on iHeart Radio, which not only plays the song, but other songs by Casting Crowns, and other related Christian music. This station calms my mind, any stress at work, and for when I need to reflect. I found out a short time later, Casting Crowns has a CD called Thrive and so I placed it on my Christmas wish list (my older brother bought it for me). Not only did I receive the CD, but the CD contained a Thrive poster.
A visit to the Milwaukee Public Library Bay View location to pick up a requested book led me to browsing other selections. I discovered a book titled Thrive by Ariana Huffington. I couldn’t resist picking it up and taking it home. The book has a subline of “The third metric to redefining success and creating a life of well=being, wisdom, and wonder”. I had no clue what the Third Metric entailed so google revealed the book website with the following:
“WHAT IS THE THIRD METRIC?
When you stop … if you ever do…you sense something isn’t quite right. You have a long list of accomplishments that bring great satisfaction – deals, causes, and outcomes that are better because you poured your heart into them. Yet you’ve been giving and giving to every other good endeavor but yourself. You’re depleted. There’s no rest. There’s no respite. There’s no end. It doesn’t have to be that way. You CAN redefine your life to include a Third Metric — your well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving.”
The book shows great guidance and insight revealing how we can thrive in our daily lives:
“We have, if we’re lucky, about thirty thousand days to play the game of life. How we play it will be determined by what we value. If we worship money, we’ll never feel truly abundant. If we worship power, recognition, and fame, we’ll never feel we have enough. And if we live our lives madly rushing around, trying to find and save time, we’ll always find ourselves living in a time famine, frazzled and stressed.
While the world provides plenty of insistent, flashing, high-volume signals directing us to make more money and climb higher the ladder, there are almost no wordly signals reminding us to stay connected to the essence of who we are, to take care of ourselves along the way, to reach out to others, to pause to wonder, and to connect to that place from which everything is possible. To quote my Greek compatriot Archimedes: ‘Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world.’
So find your place to stand—your place of wisdom and peace and strength. And from that place, remake the world in your own image, according to your own definition of success, so that all of us++women and men—can thrive and live our lives with more grace, more joy, more compassion, more gratitude, and yes, more love. Onward, upward, and inward!” –from Thrive by Ariana Huffington
The world around us continues to thrive, but it’s what you do with your ability to thrive that can change the world. I read an article by Gregory Ramsey and he states, “change your way of thinking and you can change your world”. He’s absolutely right! The way we think leads us to the choices we make in life for ourselves and for the lives of everyone around us. I could have chosen to just survive, making my way through the muck left over from my husbands completion of suicide, but I chose and live to thrive! It’s my job now to help others and that creates an impact on people’s lives.
What will you choose…survive or thrive?
“I do not consider myself a survivor anymore, but rather a “thriver”, a warrior moving forward after tragedy.” -K.E.Voss
“We know we were made for so much more
Than ordinary lives
It’s time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive”
-Thrive, Casting Crowns
It’s amazing how the mind and heart work together or rather with one another.
Over the past weeks, a storyline on the soap opera, Days of Our Lives, has led me to tears more than once. One of the characters died in the arms of his wife as a result of a gun shot wound. While this wasn’t exactly what happened to me, it’s similar in that she lost her husband tragically.
I can relate to the loss of a husband/spouse.
Another storyline revealed how someone lost his wife to the completion of suicide due to a self-inflicted gun shot. She had bouts of depression and consumed too much alcohol
I can relate to the loss of a spouse to the completion of suicide due to mental illness.
I watched a couple of shows last week Wednesday, November 12, that I don’t normally watch (SVU and Chicago PD). I watched them because they became tied to a three show crossover week/event. None of these shows carry a disclaimer before airing their shows. From showing gruesome deaths and injuries by accident or self-inflicted, there’s no warning. Sorry, but I didn’t care for seeing someone shoot themselves in the head nor the gruesome remains of a death. I’m sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t care for scenes like these even IF it’s only TV…in someones life, it’s real. Had I know, I wouldn’t have watched.
I’m guessing disclaimers aren’t required for the real life depiction of this stuff. Common courtesy may choose to display disclaimers.
I won’t watch one of those shows ever again, crossover event or not, with or without a disclaimer.
Over the weekend I watched the one hour telethon for Stand Up To Cancer. The stories and music touch the hearts and souls of everyone watching, pledging, and standing up to cancer–any and all. One person. It takes only one to get the idea to stand up as one to support a cause.
If one person after one person stood up for every cause, you’d have a domino effect. Then every cause would receive recognition and create awareness worldwide.
All this week and everyday, I stand up for suicide prevention. This week has been designated to National Suicide Prevention Week. On Friday, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) asks you to wear your AFSP, Out of the Darkness Walks, or Sevenly shirt(s) and take a selfie to stand up to suicide prevention. Just take a photo and post it to Twitter and/or Instagram with hashtag #selfiesagainststigma!
Stigma still surrounds suicide and it’s past time that this barrier got broken. The more people become educated on suicide prevention and understand that suicide occurs for many reasons with the main underlying reason being mental illness, the more lives can be saved. Do your part and STAND UP to preventing suicide.
Not only is this a song about suicide performed by Rascal Flatts, but also a question. A complex question with no absolute answer, when asked by a loved one or friend of someone who has completed suicide.
Did you know…
A person dies by suicide every 15 minutes in the U.S.
Every day, approximately 90 Americans take their own life.
Over 34,000 people in the U.S. die by suicide every year.
That 20% of suicide deaths in the U.S. are military veterans
There are an estimated 8-25 attempted suicides for every suicide death
In the year 2000, approx. one million people die of suicide. This represents a global mortality rate of 16 per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds.
Self-inflicted injuries represented 1.8% of the global burden of disease in 1998 and expecting to increase to 2.4% in 2020.
Almost one in four youths who are American Indian/Alaskan Native has attempted…
That's All I Got! 