The Human Touch

"May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to keep you happy" - author unknown

So after the last blog I was asked "But what about you? Don't you ever feel like giving up?" The answer is of course I have. There have been times when I wanted to give up on recovery and even life. Honestly, who hasn't? I believe that everyone hits a rough spot or two or a hundred in their lives. Everyone wants to give up, even if just for a moment - anything to make the pain or fear stop. At my lowest times I've wanted to push everyone away and yet these are the moments when I've needed people the most.

On the day when the boy I loved gave up on life, my best friend reminded me that we had all lost a special person. She wasn't trying to lessen my pain but rather to make sure I knew I was included in the circle of those who were grieving. When my co-worker walked away from a job held for 15 years into the unknown, my co-workers shared their own confusion. Once again I felt less alone. Then there was the night I was tired of fighting for recovery. The past seemed insurmountable. The road seemed to dark. I felt like I couldn't go one more step. That night someone said to me "I believe in you, not the program you are in or the hospital. I believe in you" The power of those words made me take a breath and want to keep going

There aren't any magic wands but I believe in the power of the connection we have with each other. The stranger who holds the door for you; the clerk who shows off pictures of her new grandchild; the person who gives you the ten cents you are short and the friend who will sit with you when you don't have any words to say - these are magical moments. These are the sparks that keep the fires going. These are the human touch that we all need.