Your Options

There is surviving or there is thriving. There is keeping busy or there is experiencing your life.

There is post-traumatic stress or there is post-traumatic growth.

There is getting bitter or there is getting better.

There is holding on to your pain or there is opening your heart to love.

There is remaining lost or there is finding your light, your truth, your purpose.

There is giving up or there is being a hero.

There is addiction or there is recovery.

There is doing this all by yourself, continuing to isolate or there is asking for help.

There is cynicism or you can believe and hope.

Here is what you need to know about your options:

1.  Just by reading this, you are on the hero side, the strong side, the courageous side of the options.   Even if you feel like you have given up, you are here searching for answers, searching for relief, trying to understand and trying to find out how in the hell to live after the worst has happened.  That is not the definition of giving up, my friend.

2.  Fuck the options.   Let's not make them options anymore.  When I believed that they were my options and of course, fell short by giving up and isolating, I felt like a complete failure.  That kind of black and white thinking kept me in pain and got in the way of my healing.   The truth is that we will all fall short from time to time because we are human.

Let's put them on a continuum and choose personal growth.  Some days you will be closer to your goals than other days and if you want to change and to strive for more, you just  do what you can to inch closer to who you really want to be.  But, no matter what, you will always be growing.  As they say in the 12 Step rooms, we are looking for "progress, not perfection."

Surviving	Thriving.
Keeping busy	Experiencing your life.
Post-traumatic stress	Post-traumatic growth.
Getting bitter	Getting better.
Holding on to our pain	Opening our heart letting love in again.
Remaining lost	Finding your light, your truth, your purpose.
Giving up	Being a hero.
Addiction	Recovery.
Isolating	Asking for help.
Cynicism	Belief and hope.

Sending Love,

***Elizabeth