January 16, 2025

Unfinished Business – A Peer Mentor Poem

Unfinished Business – A Peer Mentor Poem

As a multiple suicide attempt survivor there were always professionals elusively commenting on my attempts by saying, “Never do that again!” , “It’ll make things worse” , “Life gets better!”. These comments just lead me to intense curiosity; How does it make it worse? When will life get better? None of these people could explain their statements further than the comment itself. Without any convincing explanations, I continued to self-harm. There were also peers who laughed about my suicide attempts and bullied me for it. In my future, I learned through experience what these professionals could not explain in depth pertaining to the topic of suicide and prevention. If I could go back in time and converse with my younger self, I would provide detailed information, adequate resources, and unconditional support. It would sound similar to this…

 

Unfinished Business

By Ziona, A Peer Mentor with The NAN Project

 

There is some unfinished business…

Have you heard, “It gets better”

                               “It’s all in your head”

Have you heard, “Never do that again”

                               “Your doing this for attention”

                              “The world is a different place without you”

Have you seen the horrors of survivors

Blindness, paraplegic

Have you thought of what life will be if you survive

Brain dead, brain damage, nerve damage

If life gives you a second, third, fourth or fifth chance

 

How much will you grow

                                         Laugh

                                         Succeed

                                         Witness

Understand, how needed you are

The Importance of YOU in the fabric of life

 

What was it? The bullies?…I’ve been there!

Was it the media?… I’ve been there!

The neglect, and abandonment by the ones you love?

Unbearable broken heart… I’ve been there!

The failed career, university pressure from faculty and peers?

Rational and irrational fears… Leading to the overflow of tears?

Oh, I’ve been there!

 

I am here

To tell you to live

Live for life’s sake

Because we have unfinished business!

We have jokes to tell and people to cheer up!

We have jokes to laugh that haven’t yet been told!

 

We still have to meet the person of our dreams that will heal our broken heart!

We have ACTUAL dreams to see in this reality…

There is some unfinished business

 

We are going to make better, newer, funner memories; way more stories to tell

 

More cups of tea to sip and gossip to relish

Yes, more tears to cry alone and with others… more words to say

New adventures and Las Vegas unmentioners;

Secrets to tell and secrets to keep

 

Unfinished smiles, unfinished success, unfinished thank you’s

Unanswered yes’s

So…Have you heard?

 

There is some unfinished business.

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