Barry Cadwgan wrote:

[snipped re: going over the edge just to survive]

My challange now is:

How do you come _back_ from this?

First step: get to where it is no longer absolutely necessary.  Usually
involves realizing that mere survival will not get you there, and
putting in extra effort or adjusting tactics so that you can get there.

Second step: realize when you have finished the first step.  Often more
difficult than the first step itself, if you have been merely surviving
for quite some time.

Third step: remember what 'good' is like, and start acting like it.
(Although I dislike posting un-fleshed-out fic ideas, one is appropriate
here: choose-a-hero goes into this situation, gets past steps one and
two, but then totally misremembers what 'good' used to be, and becomes a
parody of their pre-desperation self.)