Million Dollar Listing fans were shocked when Luis D. Ortiz decided to quit the show, left his real estate career behind and headed off on a mission to see the world. Luis has always radiated a positivity and happiness that was almost contagious. You couldn’t help smiling at his joy. If you’ve been following his Instagram account these past two years, you know he’s been adventuring around the world and sharing his wild ride with his followers. But this weekend the usually joyful Luis shared a serious moment of complete honesty about things not always being rainbows and sunshine in his life.
Luis took to Instagram to share a powerful statement of truth about his battle with depression and suicidal thoughts. He also shared an inspirational message of hope and help. He began, “I have been wanting to share this for some time now but have been very reluctant to do so for the very same reasons most of us choose to keep our truths in the dark. However, ever since Kate (Spade) and (Anthony) Bourdain committed suicide, I have been feeling the strong need and responsibility of sharing my truth with the hopes of a positive change.”
“For the past year I have been struggling with depression and during the last three months all I can think of – day and night – is putting an end to it all.”
“What makes sense intellectually doesn’t seem to internalize which makes understanding how selfish this would be for the people that love me almost impossible to see. In fact, I argue that it is almost self of them to let me live in a place I have convinced myself I no longer want to be a part of. It’s a very stupid, ignorant and blind argument but once you have broken yourself down to the extent of no longer believing in any of your abilities and value you bring to yourself, the people closest to you and the world you live in, it’s extremely difficult to see it that way.”
“Thanks to the genuine love and care of a few good friends and family who have consistently fought and continue to fight hard to engrave in me the perspectives they know I have the ability to understand in order to come back to the full-of-light self I truly loved, respected and admired and they will never give up on, I am still here. I am still here and with the desire of slowly eradicating this current bullshit (definitely temporary) mindset of mine and start creating something extraordinary as a result.”
“My point: this shit is real and it’s happening to so many people. Regardless of who they are and what they have or haven’t accomplished. We constantly feel the need to of showing that everything is okay when it really isn’t and that needs to stop. Our present social media platforms are amazing for creating, for global conversations, for education, for inspiration, and for many other great things but not if they’re used without the truth. I’m not sure who and when it was established that sharing and reaching out when we are not feeling ourselves is not a cool thing to do when it is part of who we are. It’s like having a headache, which we are not ashamed of letting everyone know about. Our internal battles make us stronger, yes. But we need to win them first. And sometimes, most times, we can’t win them on our own.”
“With that said, don’t be afraid of your truth. Be proud of it. Share it if you believe it will help you understand it better. It’s the only way you will genuinely evolve. And for those of you with friends or close ones who you see are not being themselves, do not abandon them. Remind them of who they are. Remind them that you’re there for them. They don’t need to be at their lowest to be positively affected by it. So many amazing and incredibly valuable lives are being lost to nonsense ideas created by themselves. Let’s keep the ones we have alive. NO misery is bigger or smaller. They are all relative created as a result of reactions we have yet to learn to control. Let’s make it cool and sexy to create forward while sharing our truth along the way. Let’s learn to love everyone’s unique truth and perhaps that will elevate our levels of compassion and empathy which will better us as people and our world. We are all amazing. Don’t forget that. With love, Luis”
It’s a brave thing Luis is doing here. Honesty on social media is rare these days. We wish him all the love and light as he battles through these darker times.
Do you agree with what he’s saying that we need to stop only sharing all of the “EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL!” updates on social media and sprinkle in some realness when things are not so great?
Photo Credit: Mike Pont/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
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