If Tonight
Is Too Rough
You don’t have to solve your whole life tonight.
You don’t have to figure it all out, or feel better, or be okay.
You only have to get through the next hour. We can do that part together.
Stay here. Keep going.
Right now
If you might hurt yourself or someone else, call or text 988 now.
If there’s immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
- If you can, move away from weapons, pills, vehicles, or anything you could use to hurt yourself.
- Get near another person. You don’t have to explain everything. Just don’t be alone right now.
Do this right now
Not all of it. Just the next one you can do.
- Put distance between you and anything dangerous.
- Text or call one person.
- Sit somewhere visible, or near someone else.
- Drink some water.
- Breathe slower than feels natural.
- Don’t make any permanent decisions tonight.
- Wait 20 minutes before doing anything you can’t take back.
Say something to someone
You don’t have to find the right words. Send one of these. Tap to copy it, or open it straight in your messages and pick a name.
“I’m not okay tonight. Can you stay on the phone with me?”
“I don’t need advice. I just need to not be alone right now.”
“Can you come sit with me, or call me for a bit?”
“I don’t want to bother anyone.”
We know the thought. They have their own problems. I don’t want to be one more.
Here’s the truth: you are not doing anyone a favor by disappearing. The people who care about you would rather get a hard phone call tonight than the other call later.
Letting someone know is not a burden. It’s how they get to keep you. Give them the chance.
Get through the next hour
Small things. They’re not silly. They work.
- Put both feet flat on the floor.
- Name five things you can see.
- Unclench your jaw and your hands.
- Step outside, or open a window.
- Take a shower.
- Go sit in a room where there are other people.
- Put the car keys away.
- Hand anything dangerous to someone else to hold.
You don’t have to become
okay tonight.
You only have to stay.
Stay here. Keep going.