What is the most inspiring thing you've ever done, seen, or heard?

I spent a few years in the hospital for suicide attempts. I’ve been stable for a year now but those experiences gave me one hell of a paradigm shift.

I nearly died through extacy use, then I changed for the better

I spoke a bit of my experience being married to an alcoholic and then a single parent in your question about becoming a parent, so I won’t rehash.

In my lifetime, I have met people literally from all walks of life… from homeless addicts to wealthy Nobel-prize nominees. Yet the most inspiring person I met was a woman who was abusing crack and gave birth to a premature infant with spina-bifida and a poor prognosis. Rather than abandoning the child and resuming her life of self-abuse the way most in that situation would have done, this woman chose to own-up to her responsibility. She went through rehab and did everything required to get custody of her son, and take on the labor of love to care for a child with severe handicaps.

To me that was the most courageous thing I’d ever witnessed, because I’d seen so many drug babies abandoned to foster care that were otherwise healthy babies. But she truly chose the hardest path, to struggle along with her baby through his challenging life ahead. The last time I saw them he was only about six months old, and they knew he’d never walk. That was several years ago, but it truly made an impact on me about dealing with personal responsibility, and just sucking up any self-pity and simply doing what’s right.

LSD.

The only way i can really explain it is with this analogy. Your mind is this cluttered desk with just shit everywhere. Probably similar to most of your computer desks. When you take acid its as if you just throw everything off this desk and your mind is free. Clear. You can think about anything you wish with the more clarity then ever before and you see the world in an amazingly different and better way.

I lived! I have watched so many people I have loved in my life fall because of stupid mistakes, but I have learned from them all. I survived. I miss those people who have gone from this world, but I am grateful for the lessons I learned from their lives.