Spreading Kindness Around The World With The Peyton Heart Project

How I found a way to travel with purpose:

The first time I found out about the Peyton Heart Project was in December of 2015.  I was in Honolulu, HI with one of my friends, Jen, waiting to go on a 7 day Hawaiian Islands cruise! We had a couple days to explore Honolulu and decided to take a trip to the zoo.  As we were walking up to see the tiger Jen pointed out something hanging from a vine.  I picked it up and it had a message of Kindness on it and #peytonheartproject.We looked it up and read the story of a 13 year old boy named Peyton James.  While growing up in Texas, Peyton was constantly bullied over many years.  As you can imagine, this took a toll on him and he ended up losing his life to suicide in 2014.  It was a devastatingly sad story to read about. To think someone so young with his whole life ahead of him gone is heartbreaking.  However, it happens way too often. On average, 121 people lose their battles to suicide every day, that’s 44, 193 per year, just in the US. For every one person who dies by suicide, another 25 people attempt suicide.   Bullying and suicide are both topics that are not talked about enough and even worse the stigma of them makes it hard for people to speak up when they are having troubles.

Heart written in French:

Spanish:Thanks to the Peyton Heart Project, created by co-founders, Jill and Sue, there is hope to end that stigma and bring awareness to mental illness.  Peyton’s father, David, helps with their Facebook page and speaks to youth in surrounding Texas high schools about suicide prevention. Each hand made heart, donated from people around the world, represents a life lost to suicide.  While they may have been lost they are not forgotten.  It is to remind us of how precious life is and to not take anyone for granted.  The hearts are a reminder to be kind to one another even when the run around of our daily lives effect our outer core.  As written in my previous blogs, I have opened up about my own father taking his life six years ago.  It was the most devastating day of my life.  There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him, wish I could talk to him, or get one of his world famous dad hugs.  When I found my PHP heart hanging in the zoo, I felt like it was meant for me.  It touched my heart and made me smile because I knew my dad was there with me.  I contacted the Peyton Heart Project in hopes to help spread the words of kindness written on each heart around the world! My goal is to make a difference in just one person’s life whether they are the ones struggling or are hurting from losing someone.  After messaging with Jill about my future trips and how I wanted to help, she got to work putting together over a hundred hearts with tags written in different languages.  My package just arrived today and I can’t wait to start spreading the love.

Thank you all for your support in helping to bring light to a dark topic.

English:

Italian:–If you feel suicidal or know someone who is, please contact a suicide hotline, go to your local Emergency Department, police station, call 911, or ask a family member, friend, teacher, neighbor, ANYONE for help: 1-800-273-8255 (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline)

-You can make a donation to the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention: https://afsp.org/take-action/give-a-gift/

– To make a donation to the Peyton Heart Project click here:  http://www.thepeytonheartproject.org/make-a-donation/

-Visit They Peyton Heart Project on their website or on their Facebook page.  You can also send a message requesting hearts if you are going on a trip and would like to help spread the love. http://www.thepeytonheartproject.org

–If you find a heart please share it on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter #peytonheartproject and #offtheclocknurse 

-To see where I’ve left hearts, follow me on Facebook and Instagram: Facebook.com/offtheclocknurse and instagram.com/offtheclocknurse

-To share in the comments below Upload the pictures to http://imgur.com/upload then Copy the URL, it will look like this : http://imgur.com/a/dwQxh on the right side of your screen and paste it in the comment box on my blog. Once the page is refreshed the picture will appear!

Where #offtheclocknurse will be leaving Hearts: 2017-Spain, France, Argentina, Italy, Greece, and hopefully Antarctica