A friend of mine recently committed suicide. I do not pretend to understand this, and I am still reeling from the aftermath. This is a very complicated subject in which no one has the solution. I know he will be deeply missed by those whose lives he touched. His family is undoubtedly suffering immeasurably from this.
My friend had several years of sobriety. This goes to show that time in sobriety does not mean we are immune from the issues that brought us to recovery in the first place.
Addiction is an illness of both the mind and the body. In recovery, we work on the physical aspect, because the body has become accustomed to the substance we have been placing into it. In addition, we work on the mind. We address the causes and conditions that lead us to wanting to use in the first place.
For my friend, in retrospect I can tell you that in the weeks leading up to his death it was apparent something dark was creeping into his life. He even mentioned he was in a dark place, with thoughts that were causing him to doubt himself. I did not, nor did anyone else see where those thoughts were ultimately going. None of us have a crystal ball.
I do know that the end result of addiction is death. Recovery is serious business, one in which our very lives depend. Addiction ultimately begins with our thoughts. Our thoughts are what we need to work on, never allowing ourselves to sink too far into the dark abyss. Whatever we are going through, no matter how bad, it will eventually pass. It always does. The sun will come up tomorrow, and we will get better, the situation will get better, and we can flourish if we reach out for help and actively work our recovery program. I pray for my friend and his family, and I pray for all of those in recovery. I especially pray for those who need to be in recovery.
