What I Know Today

After over 25 years of working with clients struggling with addiction—and those who so dearly love them—not too much surprises me anymore. Not only have I survived many of my own difficult past experiences, I’ve also heard about—and witnessed—a great many traumatic stories from both addicts and their loved ones. I’m constantly awed by the resilience of the human spirit, especially when people have the intention to rise above the tremendous grief that could otherwise totally take them out.

My work is most satisfying when I have the opportunity to watch people move from feeling victimized by their experiences, into a place of deep understanding of the choices they have in terms of responding to what has happened to them. I’ve gone through that myself, numerous times in my own journey of recovery—both from addiction and chronic illness—and each time I’ve come out the other end of that seemingly endless tunnel, I’ve seen that the light was there all along. Now, most days, I am able to trust my hindsight about this and remember that even when I don’t actually see the light in that moment, I believe the time will come when I will. Today I know that if I can stay the course, great learning will come to me. I trust now that I will be better off than I was before, if I just stay on the path.

What I absolutely know today is that when we’re going through hell, we need to keep on going—because if we stop at that point, we will undoubtedly get stuck—in hell! [Read more…]