When I was moving through my journey of addiction and depression, I quickly realized that my culture could not provide me with a template for healing. I knew that in order to do this, I would have to think outside the tribe, and create my own. Tribal beliefs are those beliefs that members of a…
There has been a recent slew of blogs and posts online about how women are portrayed in the outdoor industry by the very companies selling them products and inviting them to events. This has caused the usual backlash from women who are insulted for being portrayed for their sexuality instead of their accomplishments. There are…
#1 They know how to take an honest look at themselves. Because suicide is the most sincere form of self criticism, pride and arrogance, as a means of holding a fragile ego together, have long been abandoned. #2 They give credence to what Jean-Paul Sartre terms “nothingness.” Some of us prefer the term “emptiness”, but…
Ever since I started ice climbing I’ve had to listen to people tell me that “all ice is the same.” For eighteen years, I ignored these people. But two years ago, as I was driving along the Icefields Parkway looking up at the smatterings of ice along the rock cliffs, I realized that it was…
The best word I can use for the state called suicidal depression is despair. It is a state of complete disconnection and isolation from everyone and everything, a state where life is no longer worth living. Life was monochromatic, devoid of colour or brightness. There was no beauty in the world, only pain and suffering.…
The perspective on top of a mountain is vastly different than from the valley below. Perhaps the greatest gift from the dark side is that it is living proof of the existence of light. If you only live in one state, how do you know if any other exists? Some humans cruise along valley floors,…
I don’t have many heroes, and I certainly didn’t have many growing up. My faith in the adults around me was shattered before I hit the age of reason. In the end, this was a good thing, because it allowed me to be critical of my early childhood programming, as well as my culture, in…
Benzodiazepines are some of the most efficacious, and addictive, pharmacological meds on the market. They are just one of a plethora of “legal drugs” that get prescribed to millions of people, all over the world, every year. The most famous drug in this category is Valium, and housewives took it in droves when it first…
Every reality is valid. Free choice is sacrosanct. There are many levels to our being, and these all have a purpose. It is only when one of these levels gets out of balance that we need to take a second look. Right now, Western societies subscribe to what I refer to as the Cult of…
“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” Charles Bukowski My mental breakdowns were the best gift I ever gave to myself, because they systematically allowed me to break down everything that I thought I was in order to become who I truly am. This process was scary beyond words, because…