📣 Trigger warning.
“I noticed your tattoo.”
She flushed slightly and turned her forearm to look at the semicolon tattoo near her wrist.
It was small and unobtrusive.
But it was there.
A small mark of the suffering she’d endured.
We were at lunch between sessions at a conference, sitting at a busy table with other attendees and I had noticed it on her wrist.
“How are you doing now?”
“I’m ok now. But it was bad last year.”
And that was when she opened up about how it got so bad that she felt she had only one option out of the pain she was going through. 💔
It was a heart breaking story but she’s in a better place now and I’m glad I asked the question.
The semicolon is a punctuation.
It signifies a pause in a sentence, not the end.
The tattoo is a symbol of hope and resilience, and represents the continuation of life’s journey, even in the face of adversity.
Those of us who are lucky will have friends and family we can lean on for support. 💜
And there are those who do not. 😔
So if you’re in a good place, look around and reach out to those who might not be doing ok.
Even at a busy, noisy place like a conference, we can always do the human thing and gently ask them how they’re doing. ❤️
But if you’re struggling and you need someone to talk to, you can call
#Samaritans free 116 123 in the UK and the crisis line 988 in USA.
You don’t have to go through this alone. 🌹
