We'll wrap up this week's freedom theme with some thoughts about the freedom to decide the people who we'll allow to impact our lives. It's the idea Leo Bottary and I concentrate on in our podcast, WHAT ANYONE CAN DO.

Who you surround yourself with matters!

YourLifeCounts.org is the website for a suicide prevention organization. They've got a page about what some young people have said about their peer group - the impact of the people surrounding them.
Mike (aged 16) says:
“I smoked my first cigarette when I was 11. I didn’t want to but all my friends were smoking and I didn’t want to be out of the group. Once I’d started I couldn’t stop. I was addicted… I wish I hadn’t started. I knew it was wrong and I didn’t want to.”

Liz (aged 15) says:
“I went to a party with my friends from school. My mom always told me not to allow any guys to take advantage of me and to stick together with my friends when I’m at parties. All my friends said they wanted to have some fun with a guy and most of them said they had been with a guy. I had never been with a guy and didn’t want to. But at this party all my friends danced with guys and I went into the garden with a guy who said he wanted to go somewhere quiet. I don’t know why I did that. He raped me in the garden while everyone was having fun at the party. The music was so loud no one could hear me. The cops came and it was horrible. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through.”

Ryan (aged 15) says:
“I like cars a lot. Me and my friends started stealing cars over a year ago. I didn’t want to do it but we all felt we could have some fun and get away with it… I’ve been caught twice by the cops and they say if I do this again I will go to jail. I don’t like what this has done to my mom and dad. They don’t want me to hang with these guys anymore but they’re my friends… I wouldn’t do this on my own but when I’m with the guys it makes me feel good and I can do stuff.”
Here's the last statement on that page...
Remember that you are important. Your life counts, and you can make a difference in this world. If you ever need to talk about this or anything else, feel free to get in touch with us. We’re here for you.
I don't have to convince you that mental health is supremely important. Your mental health.

Do I? Please don't say you're not convinced that your mental health is of paramount importance! Just do a Google search on it and you'll find compelling evidence that would convince the biggest of skeptics. But just to make the point let me mention some numbers cited by the American Psychological Association.

As of January 2019 these are just suicide numbers. Depression, anxiety, chronic loneliness and a host of other issues can plague any of us.
30%
The increase in the rate of death by suicide in the United States between 2000 and 2016, from 10.4 to 13.5 per 100,000 people, according to a National Center for Health Statistics analysis of data from the National Vital Statistics System. The rate increased by about 1 percent per year from 2000 through 2006 and by about 2 percent per year from 2006 through 2016.

50%
The increase in suicides among girls and women between 2000 and 2016, from 4 to 6 per 100,000.

21%
The increase in suicides among boys and men between 2000 and 2016, from 17.7 to 21.4 per 100,000.

10
Suicide was the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States in 2016. It was the second-leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 34 and the fourth-leading cause among people ages 35 to 54.
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