Stacie Tyler

I took my dip on December 11th at Wolfe's Pond Beach in Staten Island, NY.

I wanted to be part of the ToWriteLoveOnHerArms fundraiser after surviving extreme despair during my darkest days.

After trying so hard to hold on, after so many failed attempts at clawing my way out of the muck, I didn't want to take another step in this world. I didn't want to wake up from my nightmare. But I was lended a few loving hands & a glimmer of hope, so I kept going. I took baby steps with raw feet. I took in as much air as I could with a crushed chest. When my eyes were swollen with sadness & I couldn't see in front of me, I used my heart to feel the way instead. And I kept going.

I was able to pull myself up & out into the light where I found love, strength & safety in myself.

Looking back, I realized I had been depressed for much longer than I thought. I've always loved offering those things to others, I live for it. But I hadn't been offering them to ME & I almost died for it.

I have a couple of people who are extremely dear to me, who I love deeply, who know me in my darkest times. They struggle every day with not wanting to take another step, another breath. I want to be the loving hand that they can reach for so that they, too, can find that love, strength & safety in themselves. I hope they see me coming out of my struggles with even more love to offer the world so that they can feel that hope inside their hearts. So that they can come up & out into the light with me. So that we can be a beacon of hope for other souls lost in the darkness. So that we can show the world what love truly is♡