tiles spelling out mental health by Wokandapix from Pixabay

Bullying and Mental Health: Lee MacMillan

  • Adam Douglas

Last night I was curious to find out what Eamon and Bec were up to since I noticed there has not been a YouTube video or Reroot podcast in a few weeks. I was shocked to discover a Instagram post that looked like a tribute or memories of someone that has passed away. After some further investigating I was saddened to learn that Lee MacMillan has taken her life. I didn’t personally know Lee but I did follow her journey of van life with Max & Lee, Life with Lee and Eamon and Bec on YouTube. She seemed to be a person that was full of energy, joy, life and looked forward to a bright future. She affected me positively and she will be greatly missed.

It may seem odd to some why I would be so affected by someone I don’t even know. I don’t think we need to know someone personally to be affected. One, I’m on quite a mental health journey for sometime and have experienced what it feels like to feel suicidal. Two, there is people I care about deeply that are struggling with life and it concerns me that they too may feel like not living. This may shock some people that are close to me because I’ve rarely talk about it but it’s true. We all struggle in life with something at one time or another. I should also mention that don’t feel guiltily or bully yourself because you can’t be there for someone in there time of need. For me I just can’t handle certain things but I will be stronger in the future to handle those things. In this time of loss I feel I need to express my thoughts on this in hopes that it will help others in a positive way.

No one should ever feel or have to go through this much pain that it becomes so much to take your own life. Society world wide needs to start investing in our mental health and addressing bullying of all kinds. As I’ve come to realize and truly understand, the words we all say day to day have so much more power than one may think. Saying what seems to be simple words can scar someone deeply. I’m even addressing those words you speak to yourself within your head. We have power in our words even to ourselves. It should be also reminded that, human beings have a strong desire to be accepted and loved. When one experiences hatred comments, bullying or just plainly unkind words frequently enough even the strongest person can succumb and start believing those words. I feel as society we need to make it a norm to stop these negative behaviours. Start working on giving out king words and words of affirmation to even a complete stranger and be accepted instead of feeling weird or creeped out by it.

My heart goes out to everyone that has been affected by this tragic loss of a life, Lee MacMillan. In the moment you may feel like this tragedy and hurt will not end. It will end with time if you allow yourself to move on. Be strong, time will heal and seek help/support when required!

Let’s help uplift those in pain including those affected by Lee MacMillan especially the MacMillan family, Jordan Chiu, Max, Eamon and Bec!

Let’s Make Positive Change!

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I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload. You can join in yourself by visiting 100DaysToOffload.com.

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