No. Family is not everything.
Sometimes we have to make our own families because the ones we were born into either do not understand who we are, have different beliefs than ours, or are just physically no longer with us.
Why am I saying this? I just found out somebody I have known for quite a while committed suicide over Thanksgiving.
I'm not saying this because I want people to give me sympathy or any other attention seeking motives.
The reason I am saying this is because a lot of people don't feel supported nowadays, and feel isolated and alone and unable to reach out for what's ailing them.
If you would have met my friend, he would have been the last person you ever would have suspected to be suicidal.
He was a person I admired because I thought of him as such a go-getter, and somebody who always seemed to be head and shoulders above the rest of us creatives.
And yet, through all his success and the fact that he knew he had a network of friends that loved him dearly, he just couldn't take it anymore, and took himself out.
His pain was too much.
To say family is everything is to say that you are nothing if you are alone, or if you feel alone.
You do not have to have a mate.
You do not have to be the biggest, brightest, baddest person in your field.
You do not have to be a baby machine and pop out children to carry on the family name.
You do not have to be famous, or have more money than Jeff Bezos.
Please be gentle and patient with yourself, to take it easy, take a step back, and breathe. Just breathe.
If you are suicidal, reach out. Call a friend, a doctor or dial the suicide hotline at 988 in the the U.S..
The holidays are difficult, but they don't last forever.
Suicide unfortunately does.