“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch
One of the best parts of my “job” is bearing witness to people who have made spectacular changes in their life regarding their use of substances. The difference between what was then and who they didn’t even know existed at the time is beautifully stark and clean. As we reminisce about the days of yore, with all its horrors, and measure the impossible progress, it always lends itself to hope for the future. It has its own way of lifting the chin and rushing blood to the legs to keep climbing. We talk about how much of an asshole addiction was and still can be; always trying to find a way to kill us with loneliness, and how when people can swim past the breakers it’s a disrupting exception to the far more common rule. It’s also common for clients to notice at some point we aren’t talking about using drugs so much anymore to which my reply is always the same; Addiction isn’t about using – you know that better than anyone. There is always a moment at that moment as they internalize their own grace. It wasn’t a pill or a drink or some phony un-lasting gimmick – it was the minute by minute sweat lodge of commitment. It was the freedom of recognizing that the discomfort of change is actually less painful than the tyranny of staying the same. It is nothing less than the breaking of chains from everything that had them using in the first place.
So you’re going to have to get dirty, because that’s where the things you’ve really been chasing this whole time reside anyway. You are the impossible because you’re still here, and the mere mention of it is a revolution. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone and If you can do that, even for a minute, even for a moment, there’s no telling what else you can do and where you can go from here. So keep going.
If you or a loved one is experiencing substance misuse, depression, or anxiety – schedule a free 20- minute consultation – https://www.addictiontherapynyc.com/contact/
