Comment by Marcie on 17 Apr 2012 at 8:41 pm

Hi Karen,

Thank you for answering me on facebook. You are a strong courageous woman and I am relieved to know you are still alive after hearing you died from suicide. I pray you stay well and work on your sequel, people like me really want to know how you do it and what makes you happy. Good luck in your future life.

Dear Marcie,

I’m glad I’m still alive, too! I highly doubt I will ever commit suicide. Why? Because there are too many people in my life that I would hurt if I did. I’m blessed to have had the best support and help possible from Dr. Baer, friends, and family. But this does not mean that I never have thoughts about ending my life. Those dark thoughts from the past still creep into my life every now and then. What do I do when this happens? I stop and think hard about how far I’ve come. I think of all those dear to me. I think of the survivor I am. And then I lay those dark thoughts aside and find something to be thankful for. This past year I read the book One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. This book really helped me turn my dark thoughts into thankfulness. I even took the challenge and started to list my 1,000 “Thankfulls.” It helped change my focus and concentrate on the positives in life.

Thank you for your interest and good luck wishes. I will continue to work on the sequel.

Karen