“Rather than dealing with problems I’d just keep overmedicating,” he said.
That put a strain on his relationship, eventually leading to a divorce in 1999.
In 2016, Petersen was back in central Colorado working in maintenance in Crested Butte, when he fell off a roof. Not long after, he fell down a flight of stairs, injuring both of his shoulders.
It took months of little to no sleep and multiple surgeries for Petersen to start physically recovering. But the inactivity and uncertainty about his future took a significant mental toll, and shortly after the surgeries, he attempted suicide.
When he woke up the next morning, he had an important realization: “I really don’t want to die, but I don’t want to keep living the way I’m living,” he said, reflecting on it now.