apartment with 2 of his friends. Eiahn had hoped that he would be able to put all this darkness behind him, but things took a turn for the worse. The year was filled with a few personal triumphs, as Eiahn was able to pass all of his classes and practical studies except one. It unfortunately also was filled with pain, sadness and an ever growing hatred toward himself. A few of Eiahn’s teachers had picked up on his distress and offered him all the support they could during that year. At one point, things got so intense that two of his teachers took upon themselves to ensure Eiahn would get admitted to a crisis center after he had overdosed on medication. They even drove him to it, to help reduce the immense anxiety and distress he was feeling. Eiahn came out of his last year of college, a mere shadow of himself. During that last year, his drug abuse had increased tremendously and the self-injurious behaviors had gotten worse as well. He was so bruised and battered inside that he had to move back with his parents, unable to hold regular employment. It was only at that point, that Eiahn opened up to his family about the depression and struggles he had been dealing with in the past two years. Coming back to his hometown, Eiahn did not have access to the drugs he did when in the big city. Although they were available somewhere, Eiahn was not comfortable seeking them out and instead turned to over-the-counter sleeping pills as his drug of choice. Within a very short time, self-abuse got to an all time high for Eiahn. This resulted into multiple trips to the emergency room for stitches, 2nd/3rd degree burn treatment and repetitive charcoal treatments for having overdosed on sleeping pills. This also resulted in a few stays in the psychiatric unit of the hospital and prompted his doctors to enroll him in different day programs for people 138
battling mental health issues. At that time, Eiahn started being followed by a psychiatrist, that put him on several medications in an attempt to control the situation better. It took a while to find something that was at least a little bit effective in settling his moods and dampening the dark thoughts he was harboring. At that time, the one thing that seemed to have a constant positive impact on him, was his martial arts teacher/sensei. When Eiahn finished college and moved back home, his Sensei had put him in charge of the saturday kids classes, along with a younger black belt. When Eiahn would manage to fight the procrastination and depression demons enough to go to class, it would have a definite calming effect on him. He was truly in his element during these times. His Sensei had never stopped encouraging him and would not shy away from being blunt with him when he thought Eiahn was messing up (whether with his responsibilities toward the martial arts school or in his personal life). Although his Sensei was aware that Eiahn was going through quite some difficult times, he never hesitated to put his trust in Eiahn’s martial arts abilities and in him as a person. He knew him capable to pass on his knowledge of Shotokan Karate techniques to the younger students. He also trusted in his capacity to coordinate and assist in the organisation of the school activities, such as summer and winter camps, belt exams and other activities. For Eiahn, through all his turmoils, his Sensei felt like an angel watching over him, saving his life by virtue of his actions, spoken words and his presence that never faded away throughout those years. Eiahn would spend a lot of time, especially at night, writing poems, songs or simply