reachout
11-04-2007, 09:10 AM
Hello
Hello to my old friends, my new friends, lurkers, those who have made it, those still struggling. Mostly, today, hello to those still debating and struggling.
I have been reading a lot of threads today. I read of so many who are fearful and overwhelmed by this struggle. It is a hard one for sure. It is not, however, one that can not be met. I was fearful and overwhelmed and struggling so hard a year ago. I had no life other than struggling through withdrawal. None. Everyday was a challenge, it felt, just to survive the day. I was anxiety-ridden, fearful, physically ill with withdrawal, and worst of all, so spiritually empty. It seemed like forever. I struggled to hold on to the words of hope stratched out to me by others on this board. I felt that if I didn't cling to that hope others were stretching out to me, I wouldn't make it. No matter how much anyone cared, even my closest family and friends, there was no one, not even the doctors, who truly understood what it was like except for those on this board. They did more tan just sympathize.. they understood what it felt like. They understood the unbelievable doubt and fears and how very, very difficult it was to go through.
However, they also understood that it was so able to be accomplished. And it is! The depression was horrendous, the physical symptoms tormenting. I didn't walk down the road, I plodded wearily. But I survived, and now thrive. It is possible for every single one of us to do this. Yes, every single one.
We have to take the bulls by the horn, plod forward, and when we feel hopeless, reach out to those who can hold the hope for us.... God, our family and friends and those who have gone before us to get off the drugs. While my faith... belief in things unseen.... was certainly a powerful help to me, I had something much more concrete that I could see. It was the written words of people who went before me and got clean that was a real life testament to the fact that it can be done.
I often wondered at first why some of the people who helped me along even cared. They were clean and had a new life to start living. Now I understand why they stuck by me. It was because they knew about the hope to get through this, They knew it can be done and was done by people who went before them.
Sometimes in my struggle, hope eluded me. I had to reach out and grasp it again from someone else in my life. And you know what? It never failed... each time I reached out, someone, somewhere, had a message of hope for me.
So that is what I want to write today. That it is never a time to feel hopeless as long as we still breath. This is a monumental task, but certainly not insurrmountable. Reach out for the hope if you need it and take hold of it tightly. Life stretches out in front of us all and there is no reason a happy life can not be stretching out in front of those still struggling.
Wishing the best for each of us
reach
Hello to my old friends, my new friends, lurkers, those who have made it, those still struggling. Mostly, today, hello to those still debating and struggling.
I have been reading a lot of threads today. I read of so many who are fearful and overwhelmed by this struggle. It is a hard one for sure. It is not, however, one that can not be met. I was fearful and overwhelmed and struggling so hard a year ago. I had no life other than struggling through withdrawal. None. Everyday was a challenge, it felt, just to survive the day. I was anxiety-ridden, fearful, physically ill with withdrawal, and worst of all, so spiritually empty. It seemed like forever. I struggled to hold on to the words of hope stratched out to me by others on this board. I felt that if I didn't cling to that hope others were stretching out to me, I wouldn't make it. No matter how much anyone cared, even my closest family and friends, there was no one, not even the doctors, who truly understood what it was like except for those on this board. They did more tan just sympathize.. they understood what it felt like. They understood the unbelievable doubt and fears and how very, very difficult it was to go through.
However, they also understood that it was so able to be accomplished. And it is! The depression was horrendous, the physical symptoms tormenting. I didn't walk down the road, I plodded wearily. But I survived, and now thrive. It is possible for every single one of us to do this. Yes, every single one.
We have to take the bulls by the horn, plod forward, and when we feel hopeless, reach out to those who can hold the hope for us.... God, our family and friends and those who have gone before us to get off the drugs. While my faith... belief in things unseen.... was certainly a powerful help to me, I had something much more concrete that I could see. It was the written words of people who went before me and got clean that was a real life testament to the fact that it can be done.
I often wondered at first why some of the people who helped me along even cared. They were clean and had a new life to start living. Now I understand why they stuck by me. It was because they knew about the hope to get through this, They knew it can be done and was done by people who went before them.
Sometimes in my struggle, hope eluded me. I had to reach out and grasp it again from someone else in my life. And you know what? It never failed... each time I reached out, someone, somewhere, had a message of hope for me.
So that is what I want to write today. That it is never a time to feel hopeless as long as we still breath. This is a monumental task, but certainly not insurrmountable. Reach out for the hope if you need it and take hold of it tightly. Life stretches out in front of us all and there is no reason a happy life can not be stretching out in front of those still struggling.
Wishing the best for each of us
reach