Tag: suicide

  • Sibling Estrangement

    I was just reading about Drew Barrymore’s reaction to her half-sister being found dead near San Diego. “Although I only met her briefly, I wish her and her loved ones as much peace as possible and I’m so incredibly sorry for their loss.” I just love Drew. She has always struck me as a decent,…

  • On Coming Out in Public

    On Valentine’s Day, actress Ellen Page came out in front of a large group of people at the Time to Thrive conference in Las Vegas. You can hear her moving and heartfelt speech by going here if you get my blog by e-mail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hlCEIUATzg  but I’ll also attach the video below. Since her speech, there…

  • Self-Destruction

    Philip Seymour Hoffman is the latest in a long line of high-profile cases of self-destruction. He was found dead on his bathroom floor with the hypodermic needle still sticking in his arm. What an undignified way to go for such an incredible talent. Things like this really piss me off. Entirely preventable, deaths like these…

  • Mandated Joy

    For those of us who struggle with depression, the holidays can be a particularly challenging time of year. In any other season, the thick blanket of painful sadness, when it descends, seems almost like a natural, albeit unwelcome part of the life cycle. Friends and family find it easier to avert their gaze, and we…

  • Contemplating Suicide? What I’d Say to a Jumper

    Recently someone I love very much told me that she had attempted suicide a couple of times in the past year. This broke my heart because I had no idea she was suffering in silence. Having struggled with depression my whole life, I know what it’s like to want to throw off that thick blanket…

  • Rain, Rain, Here to Stay?

    For the past 24 hours I’ve been treated to a deluge of epic proportions, and from the look of the radar, there’s no end in sight. Flood warnings, traffic accidents, and dogs who refuse to go outside to do their business are all par for the course. Somehow even the open spaces feel claustrophobic. Construction…

  • Abundance is Mine!

    After several years of experiencing profoundly bad luck and making astoundingly bad decisions with horrifying consequences, suddenly the other day I lifted my head up, dropped the thick cloak of depression onto my dusty and neglected floor, and was promptly smacked squarely in the face with abundance. I got a new job, practically by accident.…

  • The Black Sheep in the Family

    Every family has one. A relative who refuses to play by the rules. Someone who causes unbelievable heartache, unspeakable scandal, and enormous amounts of frustration. Someone who generates really, really interesting family stories. In my family that was Uncle Dave, my mother’s little brother. When my mom was young, she was bedridden with whooping cough,…

  • Why I Hate Alcohol

    I haven’t had a drink in 30 years. Not even a beer. Suddenly one day I realized that I had never left a bar feeling better about myself. And then there was the time when I was 17 and woke up in the trunk of my car. No idea how I got there. Fortunately the…

  • Bridge Symbolism

    Having worked on drawbridges for over 12 years, I’ve come to know how strongly many people feel about bridges in general. Just publish your plans to demolish or replace one, and brace yourself for the public outcry. People love to walk and jog across bridges, and many’s the time I’ve witnessed marriage proposals. Fishermen often…