No dark without light

Here is my foreword to the latest book from my friend Bryan Wempen. Your own path is there for you to discover.

How is this new year in all our lives treating you so far, gentle reader? On what path do you find yourself in 2024?

My good friend Bryan Wempen kicked off the new year in fine style with the release of his third book, F**k my demons – Redefining normal: A journey to find spirit. I was honoured that Bryan asked me to write the foreword to this book, and am grateful to him for allowing me to reproduce these words here.

No dark without light

No demons without angels, no dark without light.

In the book that you are about to read, Bryan Wempen gives full voice to both his angels and his demons, his darkness and his light.

He is brave enough to share with us every major step on his path through life. His path towards the light. It is all here. The lows of reaching rock bottom in his struggles with alcohol and other substances, of feeling overwhelmed by shame and self-doubt. The highs of new love, of leaping from aircraft (without life insurance!), of meeting supportive and nurturing guardian angels along the way.

No matter how dark the night, how loud the voices of your demons, Bryan’s words in this book are a reminder that you can make your way back to the light. The path will likely be long. But the path exists. The path awaits you.

Bryan is honest about the difficulty of his path back to the light, the path of recovery. It is likely that any journey of recovery will be a protracted and unpredictable one, full of twists and turns, stumbles and setbacks. Recovery will not be rushed. Recovery will take as long as it needs to.

Bryan’s words are gentle and affirmative. He shows you what has worked for him, while acknowledging that his path of change and recovery is ongoing. But he is not here to tell you how to live your life, which path to follow. He takes the time to remind us that his is just one possible path. There are as many possible paths as there are human souls.

No matter how isolated your demons might want to make you feel, you are not alone. You are never alone. No matter where you might find yourself on your journey through this life, others have been there before you, and still more will follow you on this exact same path. Each can help those who come after them to navigate this path.

There is no dark without light. There are no demons without angels. From the title onwards, Bryan’s book shows and proves that it is always, always possible to reject the demons and the darkness, and to embrace positive change.

Through his courage in being fully honest, open and accountable, Bryan shows you one possible path back to the light.

Your own path is there for you to discover.

IMAGES

• [Detail from] Washington, the man who made us; a ballad play (1919) (14801531613) via Wikimedia Commons.
• Следы к дому via Wikimedia Commons.