Self | Depression
What Two Men Who Survived Jumping Off The Golden Gate Bridge Learned
It’s never too late — until it is.
Ken Baldwin stood on the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Several people had pulled over and urged him to come back. He ignored them and looked down.
The cold waters of the San Francisco Bay rippled below him.
It was a 220-foot fall. Your odds of death were 97% — but don’t mistake that for instantaneous death.
Ken was 26 and suffering from crushing depression. That morning, he’d told his wife he was going to be working late and not to expect him home until the evening.
Ken stood at the edge and ignored the shouts from the pedestrians. He counted down from 10 and then froze. He’d heard this fall was the best way to do it. He counted down from 10 again and froze. Finally, on his third countdown, he jumped.
He would be one of the lucky 3% who survived — but it wasn’t an easy recovery.
Just after jumping and while mid-air, Ken said, “I realized, at that moment, this is the stupidest thing I could have done.”
“I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable — except for…
