There is a young woman named Amy Bluel from Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 2013, she lost her father to suicide.

To honor his memory, she started a not for profit organization called Project Semicolon. The purpose of the group is to draw attention to the mental health issues faced by many.

The semicolon, a punctuation mark, is an interesting symbol to build upon. Here’s the idea:

“A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.”

The difference between positive and negative mindsets are how you think about your circumstances.

For those who struggle, negative situations seem permanent. The mind focuses on the negative of the here and now. It says “it’s negative now and will always be this way.” It slops over into other things as well and, before you know it, everything is negative.

But, the semicolon says something different. It says there are days ahead. There’s opportunity and likelihood that things will get better. Especially if you believe it.

Many of the people involved in Project Semi-Colon have taken the step of tattooing the Semi-colon on their wrists. It becomes a reminder that the sentence isn’t over.

I probably won’t get a tattoo. But I admire the mindset. Every day we get a new start on making things better. To me, that’s the best approach.