Manti woman launches positivity campaign following her son’s suicide
MANTI—After a Manti woman lost her grown son in April after he took his life following a battle with depression and anxiety, she decided she wanted to do whatever she could within her means to bring more positivity and kindness into the community, with the hope that fewer of her fellow citizens will have to deal with a struggle like her son did. And to make it possible, she is recruiting allies to fill in a project she is calling Be The Light.
Linda Christiansen of Manti has a dream to erect signage, stickers and art spreading words of positivity and inspiration all across the county—but she wants to do it the right way—and last Tuesday she made a heartfelt presentation to the Sanpete County Commission to explain her reasoning to them and get their blessing. After the county commission, Christiansen says she plans to visit the other city leaders across Sanpete in the hopes that every municipality will be on board with her idea to spread kindness, love and acceptance.
“I apologize for reading my presentation, but I find that words are hard to express with something I am so emotionally attached to,” she told the commission while choking back tears.
That emotion only became harder to keep in check for her when she told the commission about Kade, her 21-year-old son who died by suicide earlier in the year.
From a very young age, her son battled with one form of health issue after another, including chronic mental health struggles. Christiansen said, “He had to overcome many challenges that were not in his control. He loved everyone he met deeply and always shared his joy to be with those he loved, but he struggled to love himself.”
Christiansen told the commission that in the months since Kade’s passing, she has constantly asked herself, “What could I have done differently? Why did I not see this coming on that day? Why did Kade not know how much he was loved?
“The truth of the matter is we will never know; some couldn’t stop it from happening,” she said.
Christiansen says she understands she is not a mental health expert, and her plan is not a guarantee that it will help people struggling with these problems, but a fateful encounter with a man at her workplace made her start considering what more could be done. The man, who suggested that the power of positivity and kindness could have made a difference in the tragic recent suicide of a local 21-year-old, was, unbeknownst to him, referring to Christiansen’s own dearly departed son.
In the wake of the fateful discussion with the man at her work, the concept of building positivity within the community filled her waking thoughts, and she began forming plans to make it happen. Planning to model some basic details for the program after a similar positivity program operating in Sevier County, Christiansen says she is excited for this opportunity to make a difference to help people who are struggling.
“I couldn’t help Kade,” she says, “and not everyone wants to be helped, but if this idea even helps a couple people once in a while to cheer up and realize life is a beautiful thing, it will be well worth it. After Kade passed, a thought came to my mind: if you can’t find the sunshine, BE the sunshine. It made me realize that I do need to do something that will benefit those all around me. I want to contribute to our community by looking for ways to spread blessings and joy.”
Christiansen says the program has a number of directions it could grow, and she has been working with many different ideas. In addition to pursuing a nonprofit designation for the effort, she is planning a community-based “help us design our logo” contest to encourage local residents to emotionally invest in the idea of pursuing positivity and supporting her goals. She plans to put entry flyers in city and county buildings for people to pick up and draw their logo design idea on. The winner will receive a gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice in Sanpete County.
