Something that high-profile suicides remind me of: where the answers
aren't. Money, drugs, alcohol, and/or the respect/adulation of others cannot and will not sustain me. To one degree or another I have attempted to "get by" on each of these things and it just didn't work. The trick for me is to believe/feel that happiness, contentment, and serenity are possible on any level for me at all. I don't need permanent enlightenment, I don't even need to believe that permanent enlightenment is possible for me, but I need to know that there's a positive direction for me to move in. Progress, not perfection.
Dr. Paul's story in the back of the Big Book has a pretty crucial (and oft-quoted) paragraph for me: