A Letter from Mike | Mark Henick
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- In late 2002, when I was around 15 years old, I tried to kill myself. The only thing that stopped me was a stranger who reached out and pulled me back. Ever since then I've become more and more involved in mental health advocacy, and now it's what I dedicate my whole life to. I've always modelled myself on the idea that any stranger can save a life. Yesterday I finally decided to ask the public for help in finding the stranger who saved me. Less than a day, we did. Or, actually, he found me. He wrote me a letter. I decided to share my reading it for the first time, in hopes that it might help even just one person to appreciate how much they matter - even to strangers.
Hey Mark, I dont know if you'll ever read this but i thought to give it a try.
Last year in December i was about to "do" (not comitting) suicide, as i was alone at home and felt it was the oportunity. So i searched ways to do it on the internet, and i still don't know how your video popped up (sorry if my english is bad). I watched it in tears and i stood there for like what it seemed hours. My mom came and i told her how i felt, that i wanted to kill myself.
She immediately searched for psychologists until we found one that i think understands me.
Yesterday i was feeling the same and searched for your video again. And here i am, hanging on one more day thanks to you. You may not know it but you saved my life, a day in December
Perfect example of the butterfly effect. Amazing how one act of kindness has made the world a better place for so many. Both of you are heroes in my book.
Be Mark when he is happy. I like Happy Mark.
This story had changed my life. I clicked on your Tedx video by chance and it reached me in a way that no psychiatrist or psychologist could. This follow up video has been such an inspiration to me. I still struggle with my mental illness today. However, seeing you read this letter gives me so much hope for the future. I've slowly been trying to become an advocate for mental health as well as pursue a career in the field. I have plans for the future now. I want to help people avoid the mental state I was in too many times. I know I'll change the world. If not the whole world, a single individual's world... to reach someone in a way that you reached me. That would be enough.
Thank you so much!
i hope you are doing well 💓
This is beautiful. Thank you.
Wow, you're a great person. I'm proud to breath the same oxygen with you. Let's make the world a better place to live in!
This warms and breaks my heart at the same time
First of all, I want to tell you how much you and your videos have helped me in the depths of my own struggles with my mental illnesses and suicidal thoughts. I watched your Ted Talk for the first time around August of last year, a little over two months after I moved 600 miles away from the city that I grew up in. I left behind my friends; secretly loved ones; the only people that I would ever dream of telling anything about my several mental illnesses at the time; my entire life.
Nobody talked to me at school. I had already had social anxiety back in my old life, but now it was magnified to the point of breaking me in that lunchroom. Nobody talked to the new girl. Everybody gave me weird looks.
My homework workload was of decent size, and hard to manage when you're always at in ballet class. My parents were disappointed in me, and I hated myself for my procrastination.
At my dance studio, I was placed in a level far below my age group. I was considered a good dancer in my old city. I loved ballet. And six days a week, I went to that studio, was made fun of, made to feel like I was stupid, made me feel like I was a failure at doing the thing that I loved.
I hated myself. Sometimes I still wonder how I managed to keep telling myself "I'll hang in there just one more day." I kept watching your ted talk, with increasing frequencies, made anonymous account on twitter to vent about my anorexia, depression, anxiety, social anxiety, ocd, and suicidal thoughts.
In early December, I had my first real mental breakdown. If I hadn't been at school, I'm not sure if I would have lived to see 2015. And the next time I watched your ted talk, I realized that I had experienced exactly what you described of a collapsed perception. My mind WAS running, screaming, collapsing in on itself. I finally realized that I wasn't alone. I will forever thank you for that.
Today I cried with you, and I wanted to reach out to you, tell you again that you made it. You have decided that now it's your turn to save lives. This video has finally been real proof to be how much you can recover. Thank you, and I hope that you will be able to look back at your life and be satisfied by how many people's lives you have saved.
Right now I'm a 14 year old who struggles with anxiety and depression. I've been to therapy and have worked through numerous problems. My most difficult, and one I think I will always deal with (to some degree) is that I feel like I am never good enough. That I will never meet expectation, that people will never want me, and that I will never want myself. I've been pretty good with dealing with it at certain times, and pretty bad at others. I was doing pretty well, with occasional blemishes, but I'm dealing with some problems again. Thank you. I very much needed this, as I'm sure SO many other people have and have needed you. It showed how I really AM not alone. People always said that, but I never felt like I had someone to so closely relate to. I cry so often because I feel like I'm always going to be stuck feeling useless, unwanted, and like I will never have any control of my life. Or at least if I supposedly will have some control to life, that I'm not sure if I want to stick around till then. You show how there can be such a promising future where I can be happy and control my own life, and even help many others. I watched your Ted talk video (and obviously this one) and want to again, thank you so much. I've put these videos on playlists where I can watch them again, when I might need them. You have helped me quite a bit, as well as even more with many others. Thank you for talking about your experience, so we don't all have to experience every single detail you did.
I watched your Tedx video for what seemed like the 20-30th time a couple months ago. It was the only thing that gave me hope to keep on living late at night when suicide was the only thing on my mind. Unfortunately that night my perception was broken and shortly after watching the video i proceeded to grab a bottle of Advil and swallow at least 15 pills. It wasn't enough and sadly I don't regret it other than I woke up the next day. I did eventually seek out for help and got some, even thought it doesn't seem to be working. Tonight is like that night months ago except I know how to succeed this time. I decide to watch your tedx video one more time and it led me here. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this video is my light brown jacketed man. You saved my life tonight with this video, thank you. And thank you for putting things like this into the world.
Maybe you will never read this but you have inspire me and your ted speech kept me alive so far.
Thank you
Mark I Have Not Met You But Some Day I Hope To I know a Member Of Your Family and I am So Thankful that You are inspiring others to seek help God Bless.
Your speech in TEDx brought me here. It was against all sound/logical facts that a person like you, would once have felt not enough. And it made me see, how the outer world might look back at us. I'm glad you are still here, and that things are wonderfully working for you... And I pray you will always feel good, because at the end , we can't escape the fact, that emotions are "the one" who have the grip :). Plz keep us updated with meeting Mike .
Hey Mark, That's a wonderful video, thanks for sharing, real tears here bro. Faith in humanity reaffirmed :)
im glad things worked out for you and you're still here,thanks to the man in the brown coat,Mike. i watched this video and the TedEx one as well,you're a very good speaker. Take care and i'll be watching for updates. :)
Thank you Mike. Mark what an amazing story of how deeply two strangers have touched each other. I hope you keep posting video. Thanks for sharing.
Bravo for sharing! Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mark. You've given me motivation and I really appreciate you sharing your story. You were meant to survive that night and I'm glad you did.
Thank you for sharing this letter and the TEDx talk. It really means a lot to me, but I just can't express it in words. Thank you.
As someone who has been down this road myself this is really powerful to listen to. Thank you for sharing this, and your thoughts at the Ted-talk, and thank you for this video. I don`t think you know the extent of what your thoughts and wise words regarding suicide means for those who are contemplating it themselves. Thank you!
Mark as a troubled kid myself growing up, and having a few special folks who helped me along the way, I became a Youth Care Worker with youth at risk, to give back what was so freely given to me. You story will help so many. Thank you so very much for sharing. I will post these videos on my blog. God bless you and the work you do.
Catherine Meyers
Ive been contemplating suicide , i feel in your shoes , im 18 , been trying to grasp for air and hope but i just cant see it , ive bought a revolver from a guy on craiglists , its eating me every day , cant sleep , cant think , just counting the days , really moved me , you are an outstanding person , ive really tried but everything seems to crumble down , ive posted in hope that you read this and know that ive tried , and that the only possible way to end this
I really hope you made it until today. If so, I am proud of you and wish for you to make it through until one day you can be like Mark. Even if not, I hope for others who feel like you to make it through their day, week, year and life.
Your story is slowly changing my life. I saw you in a TEDx video and I probably saw that like... 17/19 times or even more and I don’t know if you’ll read that but I just want you to know that you’re my hero ok... stupid thing to say but that is...
Greetings from Italy 🇮🇹 💕
I admir your bravery to talk about this and I'm pleased to hear a happy ending to one of these story's thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing the letter and your completely authentic experience reading it. Your reaction got me to tear up and happily cry alongside you. I'm happy that Mike did play that pivotal role for you to help save you at that critical time. My versions of Mike were my former youth workers Brett & Shawana who saved my life at 2 different times & Shawana went a step further visiting me in hospital. It proves that anyone through doing small actions everyday for others can be life changing or life saving for them when they are in vulnerable situations.
I'm so glad Mike saved your life, Mark!
There is absolutely nothing I can say to express the thankfulness I have for you and mike. Your story has taught me that there is something more. More than suicide and that there is a way for me to be happy after this. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Thank you so much for giving me the strength I need to get through this. Thank you for giving me hope.
So very impactful - thank you so much for sharing your story. "This is Mark when he's happy..." was my favourite part.
I look forward to the next chapter of this incredible journey.
Mark, I am so beyond happy for you. I cannot wait for you to meet Mike. I remember watching your TED talk sometime last year and I've watched it a couple times more since then. I know this feeling, and I know it too well right now. I've thought things I never thought I'd think and thought about doing things I never thought I'd do either in the last couple weeks. I don't really know what I'm trying to tell you but I'm so glad that you've experienced that love and care from a complete stranger. I cried the whole way through this video because I relate to that feeling. I'm so happy for you Mark.
I wanted to say thank you. And your talk on Ted talks really helped me. I've struggled with suicide my whole life, and after hearing your story I just cried which always helps me. I work everyday with those that have a mental illness, to help find work or go back to school. I'm able to help everyone else, but still working on myself. So thank you again, and I'm also happy that you go reunited with the person that saved you
it's interesting to see his point of view. Happy Mark makes me so fucking happy and I must admit the first time I watched this was at school during study hall and I had to go to the bathroom to cry because of how much I love and care about you. If I would've known that Mark, if I would've been your age, I'd like permission to speak for all of us and say we all would've pulled you back from that edge. I know you've pulled me over the railing multiple times and I'm sure there are others who's lives you've affected with your story.
Mark, you probably already heard this a million times but you're an amazing person. Thank you so much for sharing things so personal that many of us wouldn't think about in a lifetime. I somehow found your video while searching up random things about depression and suicide, trying to find some sort of hope or some type of video that would make me feel something- I'd even settle for sobbing my eyes out.
I guess I'm too scared to choose suicide (not using 'commit' really feels weird, we need to change that...) or to self-harm and wanting something or someone to look up to and to give me a shred of hope, even though I didn't know it at the time- I'm talking about this like it was years ago when really it was probably two months ago... Today, I have your Ted Talk bookmarked and every time I feel terrible, I watch it and it never fails to make me cry so hard. Your talk actually gave me hope, showing me that there IS some way to deal with these feelings and even turn it in to something good, something amazing, something that can help others. Now, I'm trying my best to cope with this but I'm too scared to talk about this with actual people, I'm guessing that I have social anxiety as well, I hate situations like that and I hate opening up to people so even writing this is terrifying too.
Anyway, this is going on for too long...
TL;DR: Keep up your work and amazing talks, you're giving people hope, even if it's just a handful. You're a lifesaver, really. Maybe someone will tell a story about you saving THEM one day... Who am I kidding, read these comments, they already are.
I watched the Ted talk yesterday. Found this today. I hope there's another with you meeting Mike.
I'm also proud of you.
Thanks for sharing and for the work that you do.
This and his Ted talk helped me in more ways then anyone cups ever image. I still feel like I don't belong but this gave me hope. I'm glad I found this. I'm glad Mark shared his story, many people may have needed this and I'm one of those people. Thank you, Mark, for wanting to help people even though you don't know them.
Mark you are awesome! And you are paying it forward. I was so moved by this - thanks for sharing and keep making a difference in people's lives - you are living proof that one caring person can have a huge impact.
Yes you do have to meet Mike! You will meet loving, happy, caring, and simply wonderful person. He will have his arms open and his heart available. And while I don't claim that I "know" either one of you but you are such a wonderful match. You'll see what I mean : )
Looking forward to the rest of the story. Sending you my love too. Tanja
You are so brave to share this with the world. Thank you for giving all those who suffer hope.
Thank you Mark for your transparency and openness and willingness to share this part of your story/journey. I hope you get to meet Mike. Thank God for the "Mike's" in this world who stop and touch lives with hope! You are an inspiration to many, as is Mike.
Mark, you are an amazing person and this is so courageous of you to share this. I just want to thank you for all that you have done in speaking out about this hard topic. You have touched my life and the lives of so many others through this.
I was crying throughout watching this video. Thank you so much for everything you share Mark Henick. Beeing a suicidal teen myself it really helps to hear someone talk about their own experiences. it makes me feel a little less alone.
You are so inspiring and this story is touching on many levels. I’m very glad I had the opportunity to hear you tell your story in person today in Halifax. Thank you so much for sharing. I wish you all the best 🙏
Mark, thank you for changing my way of thinking and open a gateway to reasons for me of why I matter, why I should not disappear. Thank you.
Dear Mr. Henick, I cried tonight watching this :'( I'm here after accidentally watched your video on TedTalk, and I finally found why I'm suicidal. It's because I don't have control over my life, and the thought of suicide is when I feel I have 100% control. It's been couple days that I have this suicidal thought again, I don't feel scared at all, but I do feel sad to leave my daughter. But everytime I feel that my daughter will be just fine, I start to think about it again, and again, and again. I pray that I found hope like you found hope, I'm literally crying writing this because I actually afraid to face tomorrow, but I wish tonight I will find that hope.
i'm the 918th like and the 918th subscriber
also, your story rlly touched
I subscribed to catch the follow up. Thank you for sharing :)
you are amazing! it's difficult to comment a video like this and I have never done so- but I had to tell you that you made me happier... finally seeing someone with courage, honesty and emotion feels so lifting and life more enjoyable. Thank you!
I believe if you even bring a positive change in someone's life, then your life is worth it. You just made his life worth it.
Thanks Mark! Never underestimate the power of one person to change the world. You are that one person. We all can be that one person. I know I will try!
Thank you for sharing this! It takes a lot of courage to be so open about your life and your experiences. So thank you, and I hope that you are well. You are a wonderful man and I wish you all the happiness in the world.
As I'm writing this I'm feeling at rock bottom. I want to kill myself but I'm too scared of the pain before death. I have been mocked and shrugged off by people I thought were close to me when I try to reach out. I sometimes visualise death in my head and my chest tightens. If there will be a future me, I don't know how I'll look back on this comment, better or worse. I teared up during your TED talk because I felt myself there. Thank you Mark. And also thank you Mike. Both of you make me think maybe I should hang on just one more day.
thank god for mike
I
Mark ..I'm A True Believer of ...."Everything In Life .... Happens For A Reason!!!!,,,,,,whether it be good:) or bad:(,,,,,,Mark Just Know ....,Your Truly A REMARKABLE YOUNG MAN!!!!..
.f you can IMAGINE IT.....you can achieve it.........DREAM IT......and You Become It !!!!!
...
Hi Mark, I saw your TedX talk. I am wondering, how precarious do you think it would be to openly talk about one's suicidal issues/intent etc? I am wondering if it would be of benefit to others to speak out what I feel so that people know they are not alone. I also want to talk about hope, as my life is full of hope and opportunity - only I am blind to its worth.
Please give an update on this story!!!
a look up to you after the tedx video and this video you have alot of courage
HAllo maybe this person is Angel to keep u
have you met him yet ?! how did it go ?! I need to know !!!
Can you make more videos please
Thank You for sharing your story.
Aww.. Mark, it was so brave of you to share this with us, and how touching that the two of you have finally connected. :-) This man is truly a hero for you and for all of us, so glad you found him. Hugs!
I want to thank you Mark for once again being vulnerable to the outside world and sharing yet another piece of the man that you've become. We are all so very proud of you, for just being you.
To Mike: I don't know if you'll truly understand the extent of what you did for this young boy or the overwhelming gratitude that we have all felt for the man in the light brown jacket, for all of these years. You were meant to be on that overpass that night. And we can't thank you enough! God Bless
I'm here to thank you about what you say in Ted talk. I was listening to it in my weakest time. I felt that I was not the only one. I felt like you felt it too. People are not understanding and that is so painful. Thank you Mark Henick.
Can I please hug you? I'm crying right aside you, like, sobbing....
Mark I am not easy to impress but well you did impress me!
Thank you for your courage. You are inspiring to me.
Mark, thank you for sharing. Yours is an important voice. We all owe Mike our gratitude. I'll be thinking of you both and hope you'll continue to share this amazing story.
Mark, you finally met Mike! We're all waiting for the update :))
Mark.....just had a good cathartic cry watching this!! You are a brave young man to share your pain and joy with others.So glad that Mike was there when you needed him most!
thanks i need that.
I don't know if you still read these comments but the talk you did on ted x show has helped me so much and I really wanted you to know that
thanks for sharing this. Im going through the hardest time in my life yet and Im struggling to choose to continue. Im not sure what will happen but your talk really spoke to me.
This is my favorite video I've ever watched❤️
I am so sorry, it's awful that anyone had to go through that at of all, but I'm so happy your in this world
I have a suicidal teen and am grateful from having come across your tedtalk. I appreciate your story which gives me so much more understanding of what my child is going through. I am so glad your story had the ending that it did and that you decided to help others. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
This and his Ted talk helped me in more ways then anyone cups ever image. I still feel like I don't belong but this gave me hope. I'm glad I found this. I'm glad Mark shared his story, many people may have needed this and I'm one of those people. Thank you, Mark, for wanting to help people even though you don't know them. I didn't know that other people understood how I'm feeling right now and this really has given me a little bit of hope. This is the little bit of hope that I will always hold on to and think about when one day I think about jumping. Thank you, Mark, for this.
Hello Mark.I admire your strength.Have you ever discovered the reasons of your depression and the source of your feeling "You are not enough"....?
Who disliked this!!😑 this man found who saved his life it brought tears to my eyes
This just made me realize a lot. Thank you so much for the Tedx Talk and this video, I know I need help, because I can't keep going on this way. I need to learn to expand my perception again, and remember how to smile and laugh...thank you for this, this might've just saved my life 😭❤️
best wishes x
I am so amazed at your courage and strength. Thank you for sharing this and for helping people who are suffering - BRAVO
I have been in that black place and know how hard it can be to find the light.
Wonderful, really moving, thank you so much for posting and allowing us to share your journey xx
Thank you for sharing your story. I am so happy that Mike sent you the letter, it made me cry along with you. I pray that you meet Mike soon.
Thanks to you and Mike for sharing your experiences.
This video makes me so happy. This story is so inspirational
I love happy Mark. This is an amazing story
Powerful, thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this.