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I have worked over the years with special forces Vets to rewrite their resumes to help them get a mission...a new job.

That prevents the anxiety/depression/suicide ideation/suicide cycle because they get that mission.

Simple, but it works.

I am tired of burying them after they take their own lives.

The trick to preventing the breakdown of the mind into deep depression is to catch it before it happens.

Once the black tar seeps into the brain, it is near impossible to get out of it.

Another strategy is to help others. By helping others, especially those worse off than you, it enables you to get past your own depression.

Here is a poem I wrote that may say it better.

Beating the Silence

That thing wells up again.

It has no right to be here,

but it rushes me so fast

as I am watching my sons laugh

and my wife smiling

and I'm screaming and screaming

"Goddamit! It has me again!"

but I look over and see

they are still smiling and laughing

and playing and know

that for me the laughter

and smiles and play

are over for a time

because Mr. D is here to stay.

So, I try the old remedies.

I take my lithium at regular doses

but it only delivered

what it promised,

stability,

but said nothing of smiles

and laughter and play.

There are other strategies

and they must all be used

alone or in concert

until one breaks through...

...brings the rainbow of green and yellow

that overshadows and tames

the rainbow of azure

that swallows me whole.

I exercise at a furious rate

To get the endomorphs to kick in.

I consider smoking a cigar

But reject it as an emergency crutch.

I reject alcohol outright

because she is a demanding

and vicious bitch who,

for whatever she delivers,

is always a one-night stand.

Through the haze I know

these children are mine.

They need my sanity

and love and strength

more than my paycheck.

And my wife…my wife…

who has known these cycles

and seen the bipolar me

in a unipolar world

deserves the best effort

and fight I can muster

to defeat these MD demons

before they rally

and make all resistance futile.

That is the point.

That is what I scream to you.

Fight the demons

immediately

and fearlessly

the minute they arrive

if you are to have

any chance at success.

To those who loved me enough

to stay with me through the days

when I was "in that mood again"

in spite of the demands

of the interior and bipolar life

it is the best way I can say

"I love you…and I always will."

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Dec 6, 2023Liked by The Rational Mariner.

Well said. Get help if you need it, or be the help someone needs.

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Hey Trinity I feel your pain. But realize that we are the instruments of the Lord. We are the elements of the fight against evil. Evil that we see all around us every day. Relentless, ever present, depressing. If the Lord gives you a shovel we should not believe that the shovel will do the heavy lifting for us. God gave us the tools to preserve and carry on his word. We only have to learn and use these tools. The tools were always there but the Lord can not make a weak man brave automatically. God has given us the ability to see far. To see the the perversion, the evil in our society. We must rise above the evil. See it for what it truly is and lift that shovel and get to work. Just my .02. Keep on keeping on Trinity.

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Well timed and well written post, just before many people suffer from the "holiday blues". Just Restacked. You nailed it!

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