Before all my recovery friends start trying to ring my cell phone, I am not suicidal. I’m actually doing quite well at this moment.

But that title sure grabbed your attention, didn’t it?

Why did that title grab your attention so readily?

Perhaps it’s because that’s a question everybody has asked themselves at some point.  Like when the layoff notice hits the desk. Or when your supposed “love of a lifetime” serves you with the divorce petition and you suddenly have no family. Or when the local Sheriff shows up at your door step with foreclosure and eviction papers. Or when that once-in-a-generation recession hits and you lose everything but the shirt on your back. I’ve been through the first three, although being forced to move out of the family home into my own apartment didn’t require the Sheriff or foreclosure.

Let’s face it—generally speaking, we’re in unprecedented low times in our generation. We’re in times that are lately being compared to the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, a time that only ended because the United States went to war. This time, unlike last time, the “contagion” has spread around the globe. Much of it is paying the price for the excesses we took when the economy was in much better circumstances. It’s not entirely the fault of politicians, so when laying the blame it helps to take a good look into the mirror as well as through the binoculars. Times like these, when the bills are piling up and the money in the checkbook doesn’t seem to pile anywhere near the stack of bills, it’s easy to ask the question. 

Some—like the father of one of my nieces—answered in the negative and ended his (Godspeed, Joseph). Others—like the new sweetheart of mine that I hope to be able to introduce to you sometime in the future—chose to hang on and keep moving, even though doing so involves a tremendous amount of emotional, physical, and spiritual pain. (Note, it is the general “policy” in this blog that I respect the privacy of those dear in my life, so no names or photos of that special individual here without consent).

This brings me to this question:  What would be the difference if we choose to hang on for just a bit longer?

If there is one thing that we try to hammer into the minds of people in recovery, it’s not to quit.  Hang on, because the breakthrough can be just around that next corner.  If you were to stop now just before it comes, what will you miss!

It turns out that if Joseph (true story, from what I know) would have waited a mere half hour more, and had his cell phone on his person instead of left in his truck, he would have gotten that call from his former boss offering him his old job back. Things would have turned around, but he missed out by mere minutes.  And to even begin to think of the friends and family that will miss him because of one selfish decision.

The first step to gaining back the peace, stability, and serenity we desperately seek is to accept the fact that sometimes life just sucks. It’s the nature of the fallen world we live in.  And you and I are imperfect, flawed human beings in the midst of that fallen world.  Nobody is completely perfect on this planet; there is not a single person on the face of this earth who will not disappoint or hurt us at some time, either intentionally or unintentionally. This is reality; when we can accept that it is, we finally stop beating ourselves up when things screw up. We accept ourselves as we are, but at the same time keep hope and drive to continue to grow and learn from mistakes.  Even better, we finally understand that the “power to grow and change” is outside ourselves.  In the end, it comes from the people we put around us who encourage us and challenge us, and it is the product of our faith.

Growth is the product of cherishing every sacred moment of life.  And every moment of life is sacred.