Book: It's always deepest at the bottom of the well
These are the "Introduction" pages to the book
"IT'S ALWAYS DEEPEST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL
Imagine, if you will, that someone threw you down a large, dark, damp well, and that by some miracle you survived the fall. Now, at the bottom of this ominous well, try to picture how you would get out of it.
Falling off "center" with ones self is like falling down a well. The decent is just slower and therefore harder to detect. You may not even realize that you are falling at all. You may not discover you have fallen into this ibis, until it is to late and you've already hit bottom. Once at the deepest bottom of this well, you may not even want to try to find a way out for some time. It may actually feel comforting. Like being back in the womb where you started this life journey. Yet, eventually you will become sick of the place and begin to explore your surrounding, looking for a way out of the dark.
I don't know you, and you don't know me. We all have our own hard/difficulties to handle throughout our lives. Each life has its own pitfalls. Each of our lives is different, though we may go through similar types of dilemmas. You can't solve my problems and I can't solve yours.
From the time each of us is born, we set our own path and travel our own road. Each of us on this planet is ultimately responsible for ourselves. We each make choices and must live with the choices we make. We have to make hundreds of thousands of decisions in our lives. If later the decision seemed incorrect, you must then decide how to correct it and what the new direction will be for you. Each of us is the Captain of our own ship for sure. At first we need the lessons our parents teach us. Adults attempt to give us the tools to make good choices and decisions. We can always choose to be happy or sad, angry or compassionate, greedy or generous etc. We can choose to be depressed or seek a way out in a more positive direction.
The journey from here to there is not always on a smooth, straight road for any of us. Often times there are curves that make you think of what would happen if you were to loose control. You may hit a bump or a rut in the road that can even cause damage to your transportation, causing you to slow down or even stop. If you loose control enough, you could run right off of the road into a ditch. Loosing control at a high rate of speed could even cause your vehicle to flip and roll over. In certain conditions, the machine might even cease running altogether.
Your body has always been your main vehicle and when you loose control of it through neglect, illness or accident, the examples above will also run true for you physically. People tend to take better care of their cars than they do their bodies. Racing at a high rate of speed will also break you down. If the body is out of balance and remains that way for an extended period of time, it will slowly break down. You may not feel it at first or realize that there is a problem, yet over time it will take its toll on the one vehicle you use the most.
We balance our checkbooks so that we will not have a deficit, but our bodies need the proper balance too or they will fall into a deficit condition. This deficit condition may sneak up on you. It may take some time for the body to deteriorate to the point were you even notice it. By then the damage is done.
Like a seesaw or a scale, the body needs to be in balance for health and well-being.
We think of our bodies as arms, legs, back, etc. Often times we forget about the mind and the spirit, which are intricate parts of the total. If your back has given you problems for years, the pain and negativity drains your spirit and sets your mind into a negative pattern as well. You can feel yourself sinking deeper into the ibis.
By the time you realize that you have entered the depths of despair and depression, you may already have fallen all the way to the bottom. It looks like to hard a climb to get out, but it is possible and I hope to show you how.
I think of the dark hole that we can slip into if we are not careful, as a deep, dark well. Why? I've been there, and from my point of view, it's the best way to describe it. You can fall in so easily, even before you know it, if you're not watching, yet it is difficult to climb out of; especially if you travel so far down it that you hit the bottom.
I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychoanalyst. I am an average person. I have done the work of overcoming depression by myself, in my own way, with the help and support of my husband, son, father, sister, sister-in-law, mother and father in law, and my Doctor Randy Hasson. I set the pace and decided when I was ready for each new step. I found that there really is no "magic pill". Experience is the best teacher. Living through something means truly knowing it. The best lessons in life are learned by falling, then getting up and continuing to get on with the living that is life. One is wiser for the lessons learned along the way. It is hard work to get your life back, but the outcome is your reward because you may find, as I did, that not only do you get your life back, but you get a much improved life that is far better than the one you left behind.
Didn't Columbus dive into the unknown as he traveled uncharted waters? His goal wasn't just to reach the Americas, but to go back and report his discovery. Throughout history men and women have done the same, exploring and reporting. What good is a discovery if the knowledge isn't shared so others can learn from it?
That is why I am writing this book. I have experienced stress, deep depression, and devastating illness. I wish to share with you, what I learned on my journey.
Each "well" is different and there are many different causes for falling into the well. It may take a day, a week, months or years to fall all the way to the bottom. Each decent is unique. Some may trip and begin to fall, but catch themselves, hang on to the side, and pull themselves up before they fall all the way down. Yet, those who get all the way to the bottom will need tools to climb out. I hope to furnish the encouragement to try. Once out, your life will change forever. It will be the new and improved you. You will then have the tools to stay away from this deep, dark hole for the rest of your life!
published on 11/18/04
