10/01/2026
This is a different thankful Thursday. I’m reaching a little harder for ways to be thankful.
Lately, the media has exploded with heartbreaking stories of lives lost of addiction and mental health struggles. Some have been celebrities and some have become known because of their tragedies. We’ve read the social media posts, watched the videos and even live court trials, listening intently as their stories unfolded as if they were somehow ours.
But what we often don’t see are the people behind the scenes- the families and friends left behind when the cameras go away and everyone else moves on to the next story. They will live with these losses long after the headlines disappear. Judgement will be passed before the truth- truth we may never fully know or understand.
I am not embarrassed or ashamed to say that I have walked through addiction and mental health struggles with the people I love. It does not discriminate. It is real. It is hard. And it is a fight that can take a life or change one forever. And lately, it feels like far too many lives have been taken.
Something has to change. We have to take a harder look at the places we trust to help people get well, at the medications being prescribed by professionals, and at the dealers who continue to profit from selling deadly drugs. We cannot keep loosing people and families to these battles and simply move on to the next heartbreaking story- and they are coming!
So to the families who will never be on the news, who have battled or are suffering with addiction or mental health struggles behind close doors, I am sorry. I see you. I feel your pain. And you are not alone. Your pain is every bit as real, even when no one else sees it.
And maybe there is something to be thankful for in the privacy of our hardest moments. That the last moment of someone we love wasn’t recorded, replayed and watched by millions of strangers.
And for all the children who seemingly left this world alone-mine as well- I choose to believe they weren’t alone at all. I believe angels met them there, guided them home and there was finally peace.
I am thankful🤍