what is the point of no-return?

France, night

I went to the gym this evening. I actually ran to the gym, since they wanted me there at 8 pm to explain me something and I was kind of late (but I got there on time!). Of course, since nothing generally works here, they gave me the appointment at the same time of another person and so they canceled mine (I am not sure why mine and not the one of the other person). I ended up doing something on the machines while I was enjoying the UsOpen. I should start to play tennis again. This is like playing the saxophone. It is one of the thing that I always say that one day I will do it again. That day still has to come.

This morning, when I was biking to work, I saw something that shacked me. I have to admit that I am quite sensitive to other people sufferance, poverty, diseases. My first instinct is always to try to do something for them. Fortunately, a safer instinct stops me most of the times when the situation doesn't promise anything good. So, I saw this woman probably just a bit older than me, with her dirty clothes, shouting at the owner of a grocery store. I think she tried to steal something, like a fruit. The owner saw her and got angry. But this woman was so sad. It was painful to look at her. She was clearly drunk or on drugs. She tried to kick this man, but she couldn't stand on one foot and so she felt. Since last night it rained, her clothing were all wet. A man was with her, not in good conditions either, but he was able to help her to get on her feet again. I can't describe her. It just hurt me to see her conditions.
I was talking the other day with a friend. There are a lot of people here who are drunk or on drugs and they just hang around. They don't even beg. They just hang, with their faces that make me realize how hard life can be. And my friend and I were wondering, what does motivate them to go on? Daily life can be extremely difficult already for a healthy 30 something person. Some day I feel that I don't even want to get out of bed. I want to lock the world outside my place and just stay there, without having to fight just to get to the end of the day. But then, somewhere, I manage to find some reasons to get up and start my day again. But I am not sure if I would find the strength to go on if I was in the conditions of this girl. My friend thinks that maybe when people are so drunk or on drugs, most of the time they are not aware of their conditions and when they are, then they drink or take something to forget.

So, I wonder, what is the point of no-return? The girl I saw this morning was probably slightly older than me. It scares me to think that it could happen to me too. One day the sadness, the feeling of failure, the sense of impotence could be so strong that no reason would be strong enough to convince me to react. Why not? why that couldn't happen to me? because someone would help me before it would get too bad? before the point of no-return? can you really realize from the outside how does a person truly feel inside? how down is this person? I am not sure of that. And I am not sure that when you reach the point in which nothing really matter, what other people do around you would change anything. So, why couldn't happen to me one day? I already experienced a depression once, after the end of a relationship. A depression that wouldn't let me leave my place, a depression for which nothing was worth it and I was just surviving trying to get to the next day, with no purpose, no joy, nothing, just tears. Lot of them. An endless amount of tears. The point of no-return for me did not arrived, because I have been lucky enough to have someone taking care of me, like you would do with a baby. That and the fact that I was scared of what was happening to me. Scared enough to decide to talk about it with someone who helped me to get back in one piece. I consider myself lucky.

But I am still really really scared of how fragile is the human mind. One day you are enjoying your life and the next day something happens and everything turns upside down. How can you realize on time that you are in a dangerous place and you need to ask for help? how can you realize that you are close to the point of no-return and safe yourself before to pass it?