💔 To the Ones Who Think Youth Have It Easy — And to the Youth Who Know They Don’t

There is a kind of ache you can’t see on a report card.
A kind of drowning where the lungs still work.
A kind of silence that screams louder than any voice.

That’s the kind of pain our youth are carrying.
And the world keeps telling them it’s not heavy.

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Let Me Say This Clearly

You are not weak for feeling broken.
You are brave for surviving.

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There’s a Myth That Needs to Die

The myth that youth today have it easier.
That they’re coddled. Oversensitive. Entitled.
That their pain is imagined.

That they should be grateful for growing up in a world with “everything at their fingertips.”

To anyone who believes that, I ask you this:
Why, then, are they hurting so much?
Why are so many not surviving?

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Let’s Speak Truth

Not the kind wrapped in nostalgia or judgment—
The real kind.

The kind that sees the blood. The pressure. The ache in the silence.
The kind that isn’t afraid to stare suffering in the face—and not look away.

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The Numbers Don’t Lie — But They Don’t Tell the Whole Story, Either

Across Canada and the United States, youth suicide rates are rising.
Emergency rooms are seeing more self-harm injuries than ever before.
Depression. Anxiety. Panic attacks. Trauma. Identity crises.
Chronic loneliness.

These aren’t rare.
These are everyday realities for our youth and young adults.

And no—it’s not just that we’re “tracking it better.”
The data shows real increases.
Real pain—not just reported pain.

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📊 The Statistics That Demand Your Attention

In Canada, suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth ages 15–24.

In the U.S., 1 in 5 high school students seriously considered suicide in 2021.
For LGBTQ+ youth, that number rises to 45%.

Emergency room visits for self-harm among youth have increased by over 30% in the past decade.

41% of teenage girls report feeling “persistently sad or hopeless.”

In 2023, nearly 1 in 4 youth in both countries reported anxiety or depression severe enough to impact daily life.

These are not just numbers.
They are stories.
They are lives.
They are your kids. Your friends. Your classmates. Your younger self.

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But beneath the statistics is something harder to measure:

The sound of a soul giving up.

The texts that go unanswered.

The tear-stained hoodie.

The friend who used to smile and now barely speaks.

The diary no one read in time.

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So What’s Causing This Pain?

If you ask the youth themselves — and we must — they’ll tell you:

Bullying doesn’t stop when the bell rings. It lives in their phones, stalks their DMs.

They feel alone, even in crowded rooms.

They carry trauma — from broken families, from abuse, from silence.

They don’t know where they fit — especially if they’re queer, trans, racialized, or neurodivergent.

They’re drowning in pressure. To succeed. To perform. To smile through it all.

They’re terrified of the future — climate collapse, school shootings, job insecurity, political chaos.

They can’t afford help. Therapy is out of reach. Crisis lines are overwhelmed. Stigma is everywhere.

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💬 What the Youth Themselves Are Saying

“I don’t talk about it because I don’t want to be a burden.”
— Age 16, Ontario

“Every day I wake up tired of trying. I wish someone would notice before it’s too late.”
— Age 17, Texas

“It’s not just school. It’s the pressure to be perfect, to be liked, to be okay all the time. I can’t breathe.”
— Age 14, California

“People act like we’re soft. But surviving this world takes so much strength.”
— Age 19, Alberta

And still, the world calls them dramatic.

No.
They are not dramatic.
They are in pain.
And too many are dying because no one believed them in time.

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Now, Let Me Speak Directly to You — Yes, You

If you’re a young person reading this:

I see you.
I see the nights you didn’t think you’d survive.
I see the scars, visible or not.
I see the effort it takes just to wake up and pretend you’re fine.
I see the weight you carry that no one else seems to notice.

Let me be clear:

Your pain is real.

You are not too much.

You are not weak for feeling.

You are not broken beyond repair.

You are not invisible here.

I believe you.
I believe your pain.
I believe your strength.
And I believe your story isn’t over yet.

If all you did today was survive — I’m proud of you.

You are not alone.
You are not a burden.
You are a soul worth protecting.

This world has done a terrible job making you feel like you need to fall apart before anyone pays attention.
But I notice.
And I know you’re trying.

There is nothing wrong with you for not being okay in a world that is still learning how to care.

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To the Adults Who Still Don’t Understand

Let go of the myths.

Please stop saying “kids today are soft.”
Please stop comparing struggles across generations like it’s a competition.
Please stop pretending likes, followers, pronouns, or anxiety are trivial.

Instead — listen.
Believe them.
Love them fiercely.
And if you don’t know how — learn.

Because their lives may depend on it.

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The Truth You Deserve to Hear

Dear youth,

You don’t have to earn your right to be heard.
You don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love.
You don’t have to prove your pain is real — it already is.

And no matter what the world says:

You are not alone.

You matter.

There is still a tomorrow waiting for you.

If you have breath left in your lungs, there is still time for healing.
If you’re reading this, you’ve already survived things others couldn’t imagine.

And if no one else says it today, I will:

I’m proud of you.

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This Isn’t Just a Blog. It’s a Wake-Up Call.

To every youth barely hanging on — please don’t let go.
To every adult reading this — rise up.
To every person who still doubts the seriousness of this crisis — read it again.

Because our youth aren’t weak.
They are warriors in a world that keeps wounding them.

And they deserve more than silence.

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We Can Do Better — And We Must

This blog isn’t the answer.
But it is a beginning.

A beginning of truth-telling.
A beginning of breaking silence.
A beginning of saying to our youth:

We’re not letting you fall through the cracks anymore.

To the world — wake up.
To the youth — hold on.
To the pain — you will not have the final word.

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Lots of love 💕
–Thîrteen