[Sisyphus]

I suppose my life started out OK, and then I was born.

From there it went slowly and surely downhill.

In middle age it got to a crisis point where the distress of being in my position exceeded the shame and then I sought help.

My doctor was understanding and referred me for a talk.

The talk really consisted of finding out two things; was I a danger to other people and was I an immediate danger to myself.

The former was a clear 'no' and the latter was something I wouldn't have admitted to even if I was.

This resulted in them declining to proceed further and suggesting I sought help privately.

Surprisingly, I did seek help and I even followed their advice. Maybe paying lots of money made the advice easier to follow.

Slowly, oh so slowly, I managed to turn around and started to point in the right direction.

I had spent half a lifetime digging myself into a big hole and at least I have learnt the most fundamental lesson; if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.

The climb out is proving a challenge and if I don't get a move on I will emerge just in time to climb into my box.