Focus on the Road Ahead (Guest Post)

Article by Paul Banuski
Post Design by Christy Zigweid
Edited by Maureene Danielle
Photo made using @WordSwagApp 

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I recently marked two years since my suicide attempt.

Two years of avoiding alcohol, of taking medication, going to therapy and trying to remind myself that I’m good enough to keep staying around.

Some days are certainly easier than others and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t troubled or tempted or haven’t been tested over the last two years- hell, in the last two weeks. But so far I have fought off every single attempt to knock me off of the path of recovery and self-improvement.

To be honest with you, the hard days are still really hard and I think it’s possible that I’m only one bad day away from failing. The road ahead of me stretches out, winding through deep valleys and shadows, with who knows what waiting for me, lurking around each bend. There are days when I worry how much progress I have made and I fear that it’s laughable how I struggle for inches rather than miles. And all those miles still to go…
Well, it is a trick of perception. When you live with depression, you can pick up on these tricks. After all, that’s what depression does- trick your brain into pain and anger and sadness.
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In my most recent therapy session, we spent some time going back over my progress so far. How when I came to therapy two years ago, I would struggle with things that I do today without a second thought. 

​I have managed to reign in some of my worse impulses (the quick and cheap relief of getting drunk) and to tackle problems head on rather than turn my head away, hoping they will disappear. I can throw the brakes on my train of thought when it begins to speed up and threaten to careen off of the tracks. 

Mindfulness practice has taught me to recognize negative and judgmental thoughts, and to process them in a healthy way. When I take a longer view I can see just how far I have come and how different I am from the man I was two years ago.

I now worry less about the years to come and try to live the moment, and to take each day as it comes. And if I pause once in a while by pulling back and looking down the road ahead with fresh eyes, I can still see the valleys and I can still see the dark corners, but they are broken up by gentle rises and bright straight stretches. And then I refocus on the present day.

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About the Author

Aspiring gentleman, part-time rogue. Jack of all trades, master of diddly-squat. Contemplating world issues and trivial matters. Opinions are my own. I’m an atheist living with depression, anxiety and alcoholism. I also have a good, albeit dark, sense of humor about it all. At least, most of the time.
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I’m gainfully employed doing mostly marketing, splitting my time between a payroll/HR consulting company and a non-profit working on providing medical services to the South Sudan.

You can email me at paul@paulsletters.com, like my page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter if you’d like… @paulslttrs. I’m also on Instagram at instagram.com/paulsletters.