title  |  text   

 I remember when my father asked me to stay... To stay awake all night just to watch the fireflies.

 I didn't want to. But he was right. It was the most magical thing I had ever seen.

My mother also asked me to stay... To stay patient waiting for the chicks to hatch.

I only wanted to take them out of their shells and play. But how glad I was that I waited...

A boy I once met asked me to stay... To stay on his team. To play.

We lost the game that day. But I gained my best friend.

When I became a teenager, everyone told me to stay as well... Stay focused. Stay out of trouble. Stay strong... but all I could feel was stress, pressure, expectation.

The things that once brought me joy no longer made sense... Everything felt heavy.

And when people asked, How are you? I'd say, I'm fine...

When they asked, Can I do something for you? I'd say, No...

I tried to smile. I tried to hide my darkness...

I remember waking up on my seventeenth birthday determined to end my life... Because I felt so much pain... and, at the same time, nothing at all.

But then, I chose to speak. I chose to show others how I really felt. Because deep down, I knew one of them could help.

I remember my father hugging me...

I remember my mother and my sister asking me to stay a little longer...

To stay another week. Another month... Even when I couldn't believe tomorrow might be better.

And I noticed they cared. Even though I was distant. Even though I felt invisible.

And there, in that moment, I realized something: I didn't have to stay alone. The pain did not disappear completely. I still need long conversations.

I still need therapy, medication, and prayers.

But as time goes by I choose hope. I choose to stay.

To stay for the little things I love.

To stay to see new places. To explore this world.

And to explore the world inside me.

To stay to meet people, to make friends, to fall in love.

To stay to listen to my parents' stories, and keep them close to my heart.

To stay to challenge myself. To learn from defeat. To celebrate victory.

To stay to be surprised by life... To be loved... To love.

I chose to stay. I choose to stay every day.

And you can choose to stay too.

*   *   *

Do not think you are flesh.

Do not think you are a flaw.

To exist is a school.

To exist is a choice.

 

You choose to carry on,

You choose to feel,

You choose to come and go,

You choose the path you walk.

 

Do not think you are nothing.

Do not think you are everything.

To exist is a road

Of stone and velvet.

Spiritist Moment Team, inspired by the suicide prevention campaign

video produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available
 at https://youtu.be/RPhCJaBqh74, and on the poem Cântico, from the book
 O Essencial e o Invisível, by Andrey Cechelero, Immortality Books.
September 29.2025