There are lessons I hope people will take away from this and my other books—lessons about the value of life and love and the future—because despite my own struggles, those are the lessons I’ve learned. I hope Calvin’s story and Ozzie’s story, and Jesse and Henry and Diego’s stories from We Are the Ants, will serve not as instruction manuals for how to deal with depression, but rather as maps of how not to deal with it. If I were to write a book detailing how to deal with mental illness, it would be one page and would read: Talk to someone. Seek the help you deserve. Mental illness is not something to be ashamed of, and asking for help is not a weakness.
So if you find yourself struggling with mental illness or thoughts of suicide (or even if you just need to talk), please tell someone. A parent, a teacher, a psychologist, a friend. If you’re considering hurting yourself, tell someone. As Henry said: Depression isn’t a war you win. It’s a battle you fight every day. But the great thing about life is that it’s a battle you don’t have to fight alone. Please don’t fight it alone.