To Write Love...

Today is TWLOHA (To Write Love On Her Arms) Day.

The Mission of TWLOHA (taken directly from their website) is:

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery."

You can read more about how this movement got started and how it's grown over the past few years from a small band of people wanting to help a friend into a national movement backed by many bands and organizations across the country. It's an amazing story, and it's all on their site, so check it out.

There are all kinds of sponsored events throughout the year, but today is the day that started it all: TWLOHA Day, where you write "LOVE" on your arm(s) to promote awareness for the devastating effects that depression, mood disorders, self-harm, and suicide can have on us individually and as a society.

For me, TWLOHA is something I relate to intimately, and it's more than just an exercise in raising social awareness:

• It's about keeping the name of the people who matter to me (past, present, & future) on my arm as a reminder of their precious presence in my life.
• It's for every conversation I've had late into the night, trying to remind someone whom I love deeply that there is life beyond what they hold in their hands at this moment.
• It's for every person who's tired of feeling nothing and has decided to do something about it (positively or negatively).
• It's for all the "drop~everything~now~and~forget~the~to~do~list~this~is~FAR~more~important" emergency runs, just to share something simple ~ like a cookie, or a hug, or a cup of coffee ~ just to remind someone that they're not alone.
• It's for every person I met in therapy, who knows and understands the pain that each of us carries in our hearts.
• It's for every broken dream, shattered relationship, and strained emotion.
• It's for hope for tomorrow, the knowledge that life is beautiful, and the realization that this world is not enough for any of us, but it's where we are for now ~ so we make the most of it.
• It's an attempt to understand my own worth as a beautiful and beloved woman, created in the image and likeness of God.
• It's for the people I cannot live without ~ those who light my path, through the dark and scary world that my broken mind has created for me to live in.

Whether you are someone who struggles with these issues, you know someone who does (and I guarantee you do), or you qualify in both categories like I do, please write LOVE on your arm(s) today and help spread the word.

And... don't forget to let the people you love know that they matter to you, because that's what it's REALLY all about.