Circle, Circle, Dot, Semicolon...

Stories. We tell them, we retell them, we stretch them, and pass them on. But here's one better; let's live them. Project Semicolon, started by Amy Bluel, is a faith-based organization with the goal in mind to restore hope and confidence in people who are troubled by addiction, depression, self-harm, and suicide.The non-profit encourages these people to draw or tattoo a semicolon on their person, with the semicolon symbolizing that the difficulties they face are not going to be the final gong, but the beginning gong, like in a martial arts competition!

No depression for you!

No, no, it's nothing like that. But rather the support aspect of knowing that other people are around you, going through the same thing, going through something worse, knowing people in those same situations, or some really awesome people that just want to be awesome to other people because it's...awesome. When I see stories like this, it's a nice change of pace. The movement began in the spring of 2013, when Project Semicolon Founder Amy Bleuel wanted to honor her father whom she lost to suicide. The cool thing is that over the past two years, Project Semicolon has become much more than just one person honoring a parent, and that the message of hope and love has reached a rather large audience in many different countries. The even cooler thing is that it used to be a one day deal. On April 16th, draw a semicolon on your arm, cat, homework, Facebook, and on April 17th, it was pretty much a done deal. And even then it was a pretty good turn out. However, Amy did not stop there, And so today, I was reading the news, and I saw that this semicolon project has blown up now- with tons of people from everywhere are just finding out what the semicolon stood for. Thus I had to blog about how awesome it is to see this project still evolving and growing, and finding more people to carry its message to those who need it.

Now, I will set the record straight, and say that I am not depressed, or suicidal, under crippling mental stress, etc. In fact, people would color me the opposite. I'm extremely weird, extroverted, black (what?), and I have no chill (but I still get ice cubes).

You better recognize!

So, why would I write about depression? Because if you're like me, that shouldn't discourage you from getting out there and helping. Don't worry about "not having anything in common with them", "not being relatable", "not knowing how to break a piñata", or "coming across as that 'overly happy guy' guy" (and yes being "that guy" is a viable option for women too). My giude of awesomeness will help you semicolon all over everyone you come in contact with, and the best part is it's free (for $19.95). Let's get emotionally intelligent! (READY? OK!!!)

1) People with problems are still p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶s̶ people.

Yeah, this isn't another teen movie from the 90's. Depressed people don't look all Depeche Mode.

We're depressed and you know it! (Look at that body!)

They don't walk around in all black, or carry tortured animals in their leather jackets. They don't have blank eyes, chant Shakespeare, or carry black journals out in the open with crushed butterflies and broken dreams stapled inside either. You could probably walk around, hang out with, live with (maybe not "marriage" live with, I'd hope not anyway) people who suffer from depression and not realize it. So, you want one sure fire way to know you aren't making people's depression levels worse? BE AWESOME TO EVERYONE! Don't be a Squidward, ya old stick in the mud, be a Sandy Cheeks. Do genuinely awesome things with or for people just for the sake of it. However, if you have sandy cheeks, that is a personal problem, and I can't help you with that. Nobody is going to scream "I'm depressed, make me feel not depressed!", but you can prevent that from being an issue just by doing nice things for everyone, forever (forever, forever, forever, forever)

Now, I'm not saying this will end depression, but it helps when people do awesome things for other human beings. And that's a start. Don't act like you have to be able to "fix" everything, or it'll be no use. People suffering from depression are still people- they like all the same things people like, they don't live under a rock, they aren't unicorns (I like unicorns, okay?), and they will most definitely like you being awesome, as will everyone else. You can take off the "bro" cap now.

2) Stop Being Platitudinous

This is what you sound like. Stop with the speeches, stop saying things like "It's going to get better", "You just have to get up and keep going", "things get worse before they better", "did you know?", "it's not that bad..." UGH. I'm not saying that these things aren't true- sometimes they are. Sometimes things get better. But, but, but, (can I get an AMEN!?!?) SOMETIMES THEY DON'T. And you're not my dad! Sometimes just having a real conversation, where you open your mouth less and listen to other people more, isn't so bad. You don't have to go all MLK on every depressed person you see, but talk to them, be there for them; That will be valued greatly. When people have depression, and I do mean terrible depression, not I spilled my $25 Starbucks coffee into my $1 gas station coffee depression (If that's terrible depression you will get over it, you just gotta get up and keep going) See?

You will be valued for being there and for being a shoulder for support. One day, one day you might be able to deliver the Shia LeBouf of speeches to those who are depressed and it will click, but I guarntee 99% of the time you're just being a nuissance if this is how you approach depression and the like.

3) "It's not a real illness, bruh!"

I have news for you! mayoclinic.org strikes back with imperical evidence. Depression isn't about a bunch of emo kids being sad because "the world sucks" and "everything is pointless". There are studies out there that show people with depression actually have physical differences in their brain and neurotransmitter, and hormone imbalances that determine their condition or severity. So let's keep that mind, and treat it as seriously as you would anything else when it's brought into consideration. Depression has the ability to manifest itself as fatigue, insomnia, unusual changes in appetite, chronic muscle aches and chest pains. Therefore, when you go around promoting the idea that depression is only "in your head, bruh", you start to overlook these physical signs of the more serious nature of depression.

4) Das Kooooo!!!

Yeah, we've all done it. Someone tells a really lackluster story, and we respond with a "cool story bro". Depression isn't one of those stories. So here's another way you can help, don't brush it off. Don't tell people to chill down, don't write it off, or make people feel like it's only going to get worse the more they talk about it. This is the opposite of the first point. In the same way you don't to be too eager to fix everything, don't be overly ready to shrug off what people tell about you their depression. If people tell you something that becomes too much to handle, you can always call for help. Just don't ignore it, or pass it up because you think it's not important, or they're faking, or it's TMI, whatever.

5) Don't be a sheeple

Yes, Project Semicolon is cool, drawing a semicolon on yourself is a great icebreaker, caring about it on FB makes you look like a great individual. Don't be a sheep. Don't just do it for the sake of doing the next popular thing, or jumping on a bandwagon that exploded onto social media. Do it because you actually care, not because it's a fashion statement. Helping people who feel like they don't have a story, like they don't have a voice, like they're running into a wall isn't some trend. These are real issues, and you have the ability to help people out for good, and for the better. So those who semicolon, fwhether for yourselves, others, friends, as a fellow sufferer, as a support person, don't just semicolon and do nothing. Do it with purpose, passion, and with the right mindset. You might not see everything around you, but sometimes it's the little things that count. And you can be awesome all the time, with or without a semicolon, but you can't be awesome by sitting in your own little bubble, doing nothing.

That's about all I have. You've got the hot ticket now, young grasshopper! Check out the link for Project Semicolon (at the top of the entry), read the stories, check out the resources, check out the other links too, and have a wonderful day being awesome to people!

Make good decisions, love one another!