Those who regularly read the paper may have seen that DBHDD Commissioner Kevin Tanner visited the Thomasville Rotary Club last week and spoke on some of the initiatives he has started since taking the position.

One of the initiatives he spoke on was the 988 crisis hotline, which is operated 24/7 and allows individuals to anonymously talk to licensed professionals in times of crisis. The hotline reportedly receives 20,000 calls a month from Georgia, many of which are from areas in rural Georgia.

During college, my sister, who is now an ER nurse, volunteered as a crisis hotline operator. She did not verbally talk on the phone though. She texted with people until the crisis was averted. While not allowed to talk about any of her conversations, she did inform me many of the people who texted were extremely lonely and facing struggles I once faced. She gave me her crisis hotline’s number and said to text it if I ever felt that way.

I originally brushed it off. I had a therapist, I was on medication, and I felt as if I would not need a crisis hotline.

Then, it happened.

My friend and I had not been speaking, but she came over to my house and asked for a favor, then left.

I knew I had to do the favor for us to be back on good terms again. We had lived together and been friends for years. I needed us to be okay again.

To make a long story short, I didn’t do the favor and things turned extremely sour.

At the time, my entire world revolved around our friendship. When she called the next day to let me know our friendship was over and there would be no do-over; I lost it.

It wasn’t the call that set me off.

I was on my way to the Georgia Press Association Awards Banquet. I had won an award and my family couldn’t be there. I had asked her to be my guest and now she wouldn’t be attending either.

It was the realization that no matter what I was doing in my professional life when I returned home from this banquet, I would have no one. I would walk into an empty apartment and hang up a certificate to collect dust and have no one to celebrate with. I was the lonely person my sister had talked about that contacted her hotline.

The idea that I would return home to no friends due to my inability to complete a simple favor made me despise myself. I didn’t even want to go to the banquet anymore; I just wanted to cry in my hotel room.

But, the hotel room wasn’t ready, so I sat in the lobby and text after text just kept coming through about all the times I had done wrong in the friendship. I felt like the ultimate failure of a friend. I began sobbing profusely in the hotel lobby. People were staring, and I had never hated myself more. I was having a panic attack and couldn’t catch my breath.

To other people, a friend breakup would be laughable, but they didn’t get it. She was my only friend at the time. I felt as if no one would understand, so I did the unthinkable and texted the crisis hotline.

A stranger somewhere across the United States texted me until I had calmed down enough to go to the banquet. To her, these texts may have meant nothing. For me, it meant everything.

I have not called 988 yet, but I don’t need to. I know this hotline will change people’s lives, people who are desperately hurting and just need to be understood. People like myself, and 20,000 others.

If you feel the need to call someone, call 988 and let them help you.