I Don’t Judge Your Demons: I Looked Into My Own Abyss and Barely Made It Back

It is incredibly easy to look at someone else’s messy life, their destructive habits, or their sudden isolation and quietly decide we know exactly what they did wrong. We judge the wreckage because we’ve never had to fight the storm.

But once you’ve stood on the edge of your own abyss—once you’ve looked down into a darkness so heavy, cold, and unrelenting that it nearly pulled you under—you lose the appetite to judge anyone else’s demons.

I’m not here to pretend I’ve always had it together. I know what it’s like when the nighttime isn’t just a clock, but a weight that crushes the breath right out of you. I remember the paralyzing exhaust of a mind that had entirely run out of hope, when just surviving the next ten minutes felt like climbing a mountain with no air. I reached a point where my fingers were barely holding onto the ledge of my own life.

I almost didn't make it back.

But because I did, I can’t look at your struggles and think I’m any better. If your life is coming apart, if you are fighting addiction, isolation, anxiety, or a quiet pain you can’t even put into words—I don’t see a failure. I see someone who is tired.

The people who judge your breaking point have usually never been tested. They don’t know that any human being can crack if the pressure, loneliness, and exhaustion get high enough.

They don’t know that just because someone is "failing" doesn't mean they aren't fighting with everything they have left.

If you are currently sitting in the dark, struggling to find a reason to hold on: please, just stay. You don't have to explain your exhaustion to a world that doesn't understand. Just outlive this hour, and then the next.

And if you’re someone who made it back from the edge—let’s drop the stones. Let’s remember how cold the abyss was, and instead of judging, let’s be the grace that helps someone else hold on for one more night. 🖤

If you’ve ever had to fight your way back from the edge, what is the one thing that kept you here? Drop a 🖤 or share your thoughts below. Your story might be the lifeline someone scrolling tonight desperately needs to read.