It's the Solstice, and I have some thoughts about darkness and light and Christmas being 'cancelled' and mental health. a very short and non-structured thread, c/w suicide.

the Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. Traditionally, we celebrate it as heralding the return of the sun, the rebirth of the light and the sign that summer will come again.

And that's all true, but here's the thing: it's also the first day of winter. The same day that promises us sunlight and eventual warmth *also* ushers in several months of cold and damp and darkness.

Too often, I think we focus too much on the promise, and forget that it is just that, a *promise*. Not a beginning, not an end, not a 'right now', but a 'now in a minute'. It is not 'here', but 'close'.

It's well and good to focus on the light, but we shouldn't forget the dark.

Here's the thing about suicide. Most people who attempt it- it's because they don't see any end to their suffering.
Whatever is going on- they don't see how, or when, or what will make it stop.

Most people who attempt suicide don't want to die. They just want the pain to stop.

The human mind is an incredible thing. It can tolerate, fathom, *endure* just about any pain, any torture- if we know **that it will end**.

That's it. That's the key.

We can get through it as long as we can see the light in the distance.

I think that's what terrifies me about the Christmas lockdown. So many people had buckled down, endured, struggled through lockdowns 1 & 2, with the knowledge that for Christmas, at least, they wouldn't be alone.

Christmas was their light.

And that's been taken away.

Now, I know, in my heart and soul, that the light is still ahead. It might not be as close as I thought, but I have faith that it's there. I don't talk about it a lot on this birdsite, but I'm properly mental; this isn't my first rodeo.

But for many people, this is their first ride around the crazy train. They haven't had time to develop that faith. They trusted the People In Charge, who told them where the light was- and then yanked it away.

I'm not here to get into politics or anything.

I'm just here to promise you that the light is still there, just ahead. Maybe you can't see it yet, but I can, and I promise you.

Which brings us back to the Solstice.

The Solstice promises the sun. But not yet.

Summer is coming, but first, winter.

First, cold and dark and damp.

But the light has been promised, and in the billions of years that this earth has rotated- that promise has never been broken.

Hang on. This pain will end. This hurt will pass on.

The sun will rise.