Tag: Lonliness

Infinite Forms

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“We fill all pre-existing forms and when we fill them we change them and are changed.” Frank Bidart

I have been reading a lot of David Foster Wallace lately and he is one of the few writers that I am always in awe of. His fiction is always able to depict a certain loneliness and isolation that is perfect in its own subtlety. It’s not in the same sense of the navel gazing of the Beat Generation writers which I devoured in my early twenties, and that as I age become less of an influence because of that precise lack of subtlety and egocentric perception of loneliness itself. And this is not a literary criticism piece either-I tend to leave that to professors and those “sophisticated” folks who use books like ammo to impress impressionable youngsters in a celebration of their own intelligence. Which to me is the equivalent of being a sports talk radio dj, or sports journalist, who falls prey to the hot take syndrome to boost their own importance over the sports and athletes they cover. Nor am I not privy to the inherent egotist value that lies in my own take on such others- but I am able to recognize that and hope I earnestly come through in this- which to be honest I have no idea where is going as I write down these words. I feel that loneliness in itself is a misplaced concept in this day and age. I send out words in hope of a connection, and as a way to protect myself from my own harmful thoughts, or those thoughts that drive me to numbness through alcohol. Yet these words are protected through the veil of this blog, and social media as a whole. The internet allows us a mask to present ourselves as a figment of our true self- it’s the same reason the twitter account of Sunny D can pretend to be suicidal to sell off brand OJ. Everything can me marketed and consumed even the idea of connection- it’s why Tony Robbins exists. He sells hope and success as a model that makes loneliness inherently evil and something holding you back. It’s why life coaches exist and peddle you the same self-help voodoo in slightly different packages. This is not to say these folks don’t help some because they do. But for the truly depressed, the truly disconnected, the ones consumed through suicidal ideation, or the soldiers still haunted by the horrors of a war they never left the ideology of buck up and think positive is no cure. DFW was able through his fiction to paint this picture so well because of his simple understanding of that ultimate desire to connect that our brains put roadblocks up to obscure. The same reasons we put up walls, self-sabotage, abuse substances, or push those closest away when we know a simple cure is front of us. It’s almost an allergy to our own self, because to realize our true self it must be in relationship to others. And for those lost in the lounge of loneliness there is nothing more nightmarish than others- a perfect catch-22. As I write I realize I am not anywhere closer to an answer to this loneliness conundrum other than I am not quiet as lonely as I was 35 days ago. Nor am I close to where I truly desire to be. Sometimes I still feel as lost as the narrative structure of this post, but at least I can be honest with my emotions about it. And send these words out hoping to connect with someone else feeling the same way today.

Headboards and Headaches

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I been sick the last few days- I am on day five of a headache, sinus infection, and overall everything just being sore. The doc ordered fluids and rest. Which has me thinking that I have a bed with a headboard now- yes I am so fancy. I mean I think when you move your mattress off the floor you officially become an adult. Usually the progression goes from mattress on floor, mattress on a frame, and then boom headboard!You have officially won at life so bring on the kids and 401 This headboard keeps me up at night- it squeaks a lot, and I have to put a pillow in between it and the wall to shut it up. I think it even mocks me sometimes- yes, I will say without a doubt the headboard mocks me. It also gives me the illusion I have made it. It makes me let down my guard and be like life I got you- check out this headboard. But sometimes- and especially with my recovery- I feel like I should just have a mattress on the floor. Who am I trying to impress with this fancy headboard? I think sometimes we all get caught up in appearances rather than reality. Sometimes on the outside we present ourselves to the world one way- when in the inside we would rather be snuggling our Linus security blanket on the mattress on the floor. It’s comforting and we know how it feels down there. Having a headboard is scary- it represents change and that I am growing as a person. But I am changing and I do accept my life is now going to be full of headboards- it’s one of the so-called perks of growing up. And if I am lucky one day I might even be able to share this headboard- but I hope the lucky lady knows I am in no rush for her to see this status of adulthood on my bed. That my intentions are pure and I would never do anything to harm her. Because I understand how fragile it is coming back from the mattress on the floor, and I know fellows like me can be her poison. So I am cool with just being the extra blanket hanging out on the end of the bed. And hopefully she knows she can always rely on me to snuggle, and to warm her up when those nights get too cold. But she will also always have her foundation of that beautiful quilted comforter she worked so hard to make, making sure she followed the steps to perfect it so she can always wrap herself up in that warmness when she needs it. As I finish writing this I lay alone, and my head still pounds. The headboard squeaks if I move- and I try to ponder life as this coffee fails to awaken me fast enough. Sometimes I wish I had something beautiful next to me so we could curse that damn headboard together- but I don’t and that’s fine because everything is the way it should be right now- and the headboard squeaks because recovery itself is not perfect. Life is not perfect. Love is not perfect. The only thing that is perfect is a genuine connection between two lost souls- and even in that perfection the headboard would still squeak in the background.

Polar Past

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It’s been about a week since I got out the ward. And as this morning air brings a cold front of frigid crucified breaths vanishing into the sky; seemingly forever lost in the frozen clouds above like the relationships of my past that are too fractured to ever be put back together again. As I recover I have to make time to be grateful for those that stuck by me in life. The one’s who saw me at my worst, and still loved me until I could finally figure out someway to try to love myself. I am still learning to try to always reach out to because isolation is the devil’s entryway into my soul. So today to ensure my soul won’t be frigid like the polar air outside I am going to embrace the fire and warmth found in my belly; and from that keep going forward even with my heart as heavy as an army rucksack, and that march ahead of me still ever so endless.

Stale Milk and Horses

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Lust for death surrounds my heart. An orbit of sorrow, despair, and a heartbroken sun beaming down on my faith. Burning off all the hope, joy, and fight left in my soul; as a melancholy moonlight beams off my wrists. Outside a few stars mourn for the night as a broken streetlight struggles to be bright. A pint of vodka, blood thinning pills, and headphones with a playlist called “Stale Milk and Hearses” adds to the delight, with razor sharp blades waiting for their turn being ever so polite. I delight in the ecstasy of these final minutes of silence, knowing soon sweet emptiness will fill the rest of my life. The bottle is almost empty, and the headphones are reaching out to finally be touched. As soon as they are on I waltz towards the end, and the climax to the finale finally ascends. The razor is picked up and with trembling hands embraces the skin; the pain from the slice my last saving grace. All that is left is the beauty of the symphony of blood flowing below. An end to grief once and for all; as I lose all consciousness and descend to below.

Stale Milk and Hearses Playlist

Fresh out the Ward

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After 15 days in the ward(the behavioral health unit) I am back. I feel I just aged emotionally 14 years in two weeks. The stay was brutal for the first week and a half. Being brutally honest to myself, and then to the docs and the staff was not easy, but what was exactly what was needed. I was still having thoughts of suicide and wanted to put my head through the wall just to not feel anymore. But this past Sunday I wrote what I will make my next post, and oddly it made me realize how much I never wanted to take my own life. It felt like I was writing fiction, and not my inner desires or the plan I had decided would be my way out. With some much needed med changes, a new outlook, and a good old fashioned reboot to my brain that was like a laptop running too many programs at once I feel hope. My journey to peace has only begun, and I know trying times will still be in my future- but I have faith- and not forget this good old fashioned blog to blab it to the world.

Invisible Agony

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“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.” David Foster Wallace

This will be the last post for a bit- I am checking into an inpatient facility today. The suicidal thoughts, and the drinking have become too much to handle. I was thinking about jumping out the window of my second floor house last night but wrestling has taught me that won’t work. I would either land on a car, or a wooden fence that would break my fall and just leave me with an insane bump that would break my ribs among other body parts. I also thought about taking all my meds with alcohol but knowing my tolerance I would survive that too and end up full of charcoal. My brain tells me to do this but I can’t. I don’t want to put my family and friends through another loss. So I drink to numb these thoughts with alcohol- a slow suicide in itself. I have so many people that care about me yet I don’t reach out unless I am in a blackout and god knows what I say then. For anyone out there feeling like I do fucking have hope. Do whatever you can to get help. I am not preaching, but I just don’t want anyone to go through every day feeling like I do. I survived one attempt before- I don’t think I can survive another. Honesty will cure you. If you don’t think anyone cares I do. I started this blog to be honest with the world, and the honest truth as much as I want to end my life I really don’t. Hey if this saves just one person and allows them to get help I will have succeed. I showed my dad this blog yesterday- it hurt his heart. He can’t understand my suicide desires and it hurts his stomach to think about. It’s weird how a naked piece of paper can be the canvas to expose are sins, flaws, and fears to the world. How when the ink hits the page, and the innocence of the lines those words fit in are corrupted, that from this exposing to light of the world they lose the power they once held over us. We all can sin, but not all of us can be honest. I am hardheaded and pain is my best motivator, and after hitting so much of it I got to admit this faith thing works a lot better. Better to be free of my sins and suffering than living a lie and flourishing. I hope one day from my trust in god I will be able to find that balance. Until then I drudge onwards to spiritual enlightenment with an honest heart as my compass. With an honest heart as my only beacon of hope to ever arrive there. And With an honest heart as the only way to fight off those demons of self-destruction for another day.

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Steady Staring at Candles

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It’s day three sober and my brain has me feeling like the Geto Boys as I stay steady staring at candles like my mind was playing tricks on me wishing I could be like Holden Caufield- just a catcher in the rye. Just standing on some crazy cliff catching addicts before they fall off into the abyss. I wish I can catch their pain, sadness, and fear and devour it away. Just take it all and store it into my soul. I know eventually one day all that ugliness, sorrow, and horror would tear apart my insides like a machetes through the unwanted orphans that surround my heart- but I would do it. And I know I could carry it for them, and if that pain destroyed me it would be worth it to free just one person from that living purgatory that seemed more like hell than hell could possibly be. And I would gladly choke on the bile of bitterness trapped in my throat all day if I could see just a hint of happiness in their heart. I would devour that pain with a smile if they only asked me to. Because suffering for the freedom of others is a noble gift. And self sacrifice- even when it means eternal damnation for yourself- is truly blissful at the end. For I was blessed to carry this pain with me so they wouldn’t have to.

A Catch 22 on Day 2

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As night falls on Day 2 of sobriety, and the wind grows as cold as my soul has felt these last few weeks drowning in liquor, I am not feeling my normal detox symptoms. My usual extreme anxiety, tremors, creepy crawling skin, and a brain that feels like it’s on loop as if it was a air ballon lost in a hurricane hasn’t happened-well yet. The mental obsession is here of course- but weirdly the cravings haven’t had me figuring out ways to sneak to the liquor store. It could be that I am on high alert, and finally went to a new IOP that I thoroughly enjoyed this morning. Or, maybe, this blog thing is keeping my anxiety in check because I am not keeping any secrets from the world anymore. Being vulnerable is terrifying because it opens you up to emotions which can paralyze you in fear. Fear which makes you settle for a comfort zone that makes you miserable. But misery can be a safety blanket from that fear. The catch 22 of pain because it’s all you know. I have lived for so many years in a haze of anesthesia numbing myself with anyway I knew just so I didn’t have to feel life. Emotions terrified me. And from that fear I ruined so many relationships, friendships, and opportunities for success. But I finally realized my greatest strength is vulnerability because it makes me feel pain so I can experience joy again; a freedom to connect with others, and break down my wall. A freedom to pursue my dreams and realize even if I fail I am growing. And most importantly a path to the peace I have always been searching for under those bright stars that hide in the sunlight. Never had failure looked so tempting because on the other end is the journey to the joy of success.

Emotions Are Terrorists

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Emotions are terrorists to our brains. They are grenades that shatter reality and destroy rational thought. It’s funny how depression can take everything beautiful in my life and distort it to all I see is ugly. How it can make everything wonderful in my soul- in my heart- and in my life become a weapon of self destruction. Ohh how many nighs I fought it off-did what I was supposed to became the Hulk Hogan of recovery- I said my prayers, took my meds, followed the steps, and helped others- everything they told me would keep that pain away. But then the pain resurfaced- disguised in a new garb- not thrift-shop but a fancy outfit this time. I didn’t see it coming. Slowly the pain started to distort my view- the beauty of the forest disguised by a dead tree-diseased and pock marked like an old man whose only joy is being the proprietor of sin- never realizing the so called the whores at his disposals where actually angels lusting for their wings. I don’t know why god needed me to hit so much pain again- but he did and I hit it. And I hope it’s the last time he asks me to do that because I am not sure I can overcome it the next time. My soul is getting tired- and I just want to be free someday. So maybe if I tell someone it will relieve it. Maybe if I confess I am tired god won’t see fit to have me trudge through this misery anymore. Cause god am I tired- so fucking tired.

That Day One Sober

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Yesterday I passed out while drinking a fifth of vodka. I was supposed to be detoxing, but instead of reaching out to the people that care in my life I decided to pour the one thing that keeps ruining my life down my throat. I worry without alcohol I won’t be able to write, be creative, or even dj again. My depression and suicidal ideation doesn’t help- but alcohol only increases these abhorrent thoughts. It’s a sit and spin of increased terror. I am riding deranged Disney tea cups that will never stop until I pass out, and vow once again never to drink. Alcohol has already ruined so much in my life from friendships, to girls I loved, to jobs I gave away for a simple taste of spirits, and finally the trust of my family. So this is day one of sobriety. It’s funny how I think putting this out to the world of the internet will keep me more accountable. And maybe in the end it will, and ideally maybe help someone else who is struggling. Day one for me is usually a lot easier than day two or three. My anxiety stays relatively low, and the guilt and shame from my last debacle usually keeps the cravings at bay for those 24 hours or so. I like to isolate which is not the healthiest, but I did get to see my family for brunch today which helped. Usually I am avoiding the world- specifically social media or text messages- because I have tendency to blackout and send messages that are embarrassing, inappropriate, angry, or a combination of all the above. Honesty will set me free they say. So if anyone is reading this that has received that type of message from me I feel like that Casual song, “I Didn’t Mean To.” That’s for the obscure 90’s rap heads, and it’s actually about him hooking up with a girl with a boyfriend-which does make sense since I did cheat on my sobriety with that devil named vodka. But today I stayed sober. Tomorrow is another day and another test. But I will pray tonight to help me trudge forward with god in my heart, and Wu Tang in my headphones.