Once at a therapy session in graduate school I had a therapist tell me that “the trick to not killing yourself was to push it down your to-do list.” I’m unusually high functioning for the level of depression I’ve been dealing with since I was a middle-schooler. Grades never slipped, house is usually clean, and I tend to gravitate to thoughts of suicide as an escape from intense sad feelings, disappointment, or even just apathy. I could be reaching goal after goal, but internally just be ready to evaporate into nothing. Because of this the therapist literally said “everyone can kill themself. Anyone could do it anytime they wanted to. For some people it’s just higher on their list of things they want to do than other people. When you’re at these dark times where it’s really high on your to do list, try to put something above it. Maybe it’s something you need to do like a chore - maybe it’s something you want to do like go on a walk or bake.” At the time I felt like this helped me. I know it’s almost like I’m tricking a toddler with a distraction when they really want the candy. Just wanted to see what other things people may have been told as far as convincing yourself to not die or your thoughts on this advice?