I can fully understand why people turn to drink. Life is sometimes like standing on a thin ledge, looking into an abyss. There is no way forward, you can only sidle along the ledge that appears to narrow in the only direction you can take. There are two options: to fall into the darkness or make your way along the ledge. The simplest option is to give up and fall but you can’t change your mind once you have made that decision. On the off chance that, by some miracle, another alternative should present itself you have left yourself no recourse. The ledge is the best option only because it’s the least bad. There’s no telling when it will give out or how many sideways steps will be required to get you to safety. There seems a third option though it’s no option at all.

When there’s no real alternative you’re forced to escape reality and find refuge in the havens of the mind. When the storm steals every semblance of peace and stability you must find a harbour to regain your equilibrium – to study the maps and calibrate your compass. But when the captain refuses to take charge you must throw caution to the wind and take any course rather than remain in the maelstrom. Anything is better than being faced with the stark realities of despair and destruction. Hope isn’t a far off glimpse of future happiness but a slender thread that barely keeps you this side of sanity.

When you’re on a well-worn path with kerns to let you know that others have been this way and the odd sign to confirm the route, you can enjoy the journey and imagine the welcome that awaits you at the journey’s end. With provisions and a coat to keep you dry you can enjoy whatever the weather brings you and take note of sights that line your way. Whether you have planned the journey or – in the case of the one on the ledge – it has been forced on you, you cannot guarantee the outcome. We all face an uncertain future to some degree but the one on the ledge can’t enjoy the present, the time in which we all live. Some live by faith, none live by hope.

For those that would turn to the bottle or other means of escape, the future holds no promise and seems a prospect more cruel than being stranded on the ledge. As Solomon said, “whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.” Wherever you are going you must start from here and until you can accept where you are you will not truly begin your journey. Make no promises to the one on the ledge except that others have been on that ledge and survived. It’s a horrible place to be. “To be, or not to be” someone famous once said.