Blog 251 – Leaving The Pit of Despair, Part 6 – 13 May 2025

My purpose is to give hope to those who have lost hope. Without hope, we remain lost in the Shadow Lands.

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Blog 250 finished with these words.

Love will give you the strength of put one foot in front of another. You can force yourself to keep going until tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, it will no longer be tomorrow … and you can force yourself to keep going until the new tomorrow comes. When you have made yourself walk through enough tomorrows, it will slowly dawn on you that you have truly walked out of the Pit. You can do this because you are a hero.   Ignore anyone claiming you are nothing like a hero.   Just look into the mirror.   The face you see is yours, and you ARE a hero.   Nothing could be more certain.

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The modest but extremely talented man on the left as you look at this photo is my friend Juan Acosta.  Juan was originally Venezuelan and he came to Australia alone when he could not speak one word of English.  He sought a new, safe home for his family – far away from the madness of then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

This wonderful man called Juan did indeed find a safe new home for his family in Australia and he is now Australian.  I am blessed by having his son help me run Hankin Redden.

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I am as proud of Juan Acosta as I am of my son Chris.

Most heroes look just like everybody else, but don’t be fooled.  

You REALLY do not need a uniform to be a hero.

You already are a hero.

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But, I hear you say “I don’t have the energy to walk anywhere”.  I barely have the energy to stagger to the toilet.  I definitely don’t have the energy to cook; that is why I eat so much take away food!

I have been in that situation and I too have felt like death warmed up.  Every one of us has, at some point, felt like sh*t so much that we have not been able to even get out of bed.

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Long before I met Margaret, my heart was broken by a romance which ended badly.  The romance had ended months before the events I will describe, so I had had plenty of time in which to get over my heartache – but healing happens when it happens.  And if you don't even know you need healing, the process does not have a chance to start.

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I had gone to work as usual on the Thursday before Easter.

After work, I had drunk my usual dozen cans of beer – maybe more.  This helped me get sleepy - so I went to bed and slept.

I woke up on Good Friday morning, grabbed myself some more beers … and went back to bed.  

I stayed in bed until I had to go back to work because the Easter public holidays had finished.

Well, I didn’t really stay in bed without ever getting up.  I had to get up whenever I ran out of beer.

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There is a recognised medical word to describe what was happening to me.

I was depressed.

I was certainly suffering from depression.

I could not get out of bed even to drink my beers.

I did not have the energy to have a shower, a shave or to brush my teeth.

I definitely had no energy to cook anything … and I didn’t have the energy to even order take away food, although I could have had it delivered.

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So, when I tell you that you need to do things one Step at a Time and your response is I cannot even get out of bed, I know exactly what you mean.  You mean how am I going to walk anywhere when I can’t even get out of bed?

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The answer is simple and you will hate me for telling you.

You will get out of bed and start the process of putting one foot in front of the other because others love you and want you to do just that.

If you are able to visualise (I cannot), let you mind capture the image of your wife, or your husband, or your mother, or your father … or even Rufus the dog … smiling and encouraging you.

Feel the love of those who want you to swing your leg over the mattress and get up.

You can swing that leg and you can walk.

And once you have got yourself out of bed, you don’t even have to have a shower before you force your body to start walking down the street … or through the park.  The shower can wait until you get home.

Breakfast can wait until you get home.

The beer can wait until you get home.

And once you have started placing one foot in front of the other, you have started your own Great Escape.

Left foot.

Right foot.

Left foot.

Right foot.

You know you can do it.

Don’t be too hard on yourself.

If the end of the street really is the furthest distance you can force your body to reach, accept that is your maximum distance … today.

You can try and go further tomorrow.

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And quite apart from the love that will encourage you to swing your leg out of bed, there is that other reason why you definitely can get out of bed, no matter how exhausted your body feels.

You are a HERO.

That is the real reason why you can get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other.

Heroes like you have the ability to do what others think is impossible.

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I will tell you more tomorrow.