The Power of “The Share”
Do you remember? I mean, really remember what it was like? When was the last time you recounted the days, the nights, the weeks and the months of the suffering? When was the last time you remembered how the shakes would drive you to yet another drink? When was the last time you thought about how your obsession drove you to do things, say things and experience things that you could either not remember or had to force yourself to forget? When was the last time you shared your story?
The importance of sharing your story is three-fold:
1) It takes the power out of what you have been through, giving you more freedom to fill your life with joyful moments.
2) It can remind you of where you have been. The disease is always in the foreground attempting to find its way back to you. Remembering what you have been through reminds you of the dilemma of the disease and it helps to keep it at bay.
3) You never know who may hear your story and relate, finally succumbing to the realization that they are like us and can find a way out if they choose.
You’ve had the experience of having the obsession removed from you. The allergy of the body has dissipated, and your spiritual malady is on the back burner. You have had the opportunity to really begin to pick up the pieces of your life and place band-aids on the wreckage that only time will heal. Life has started to look good, great in fact. You are happier and healthier than you have ever been. What good would there be in bringing up all of those past indiscretions, anyway?
Pain is easily forgotten in the human mind. Once pleasure has replaced the pain and suffering, we tend to forget how arduous an experience has been. It’s one reason why women continue to have children after the first experience. It’s how we survive as a species. It is within us to push past pain and forget it, so that we do not continue to suffer and can begin to really enjoy our existence. But there can be dire consequences to forgetting one’s pain. It is within “The Share” that we can safely remember where we have been and how far we have come.
Since entering recovery, I have made it a point of mine to be as open and as candid as possible about my alcoholic past and path in recovery. When I first stepped into meetings, I felt embarrassed and ashamed of my past. As I began to listen to the stories of those who suffered too, I realized that we were the same. There was to be no judgment here. As I opened up my emotions and touched the rawness of my feelings, the power of the pain left my being. It was replaced with love and compassion for myself. I had been through some struggles, but it was ok. Sharing my past gave me the power to receive healing.
Over time, I became a circuit speaker for treatment centers, 12-step meetings and conventions. The ease with which I could share my story built confidence where I once felt shame and guilt. My story was starting to make an effect in people’s lives. We in recovery come from all walks of life, and though we all have our own stories, it is the color in which our story takes effect that may resonate with someone who is suffering too. My story was touching lives and causing a ripple effect in which one person would reach out for help, and then another, and then another.
Some struggle with wanting to share their stories, maybe not out of embarrassment, but perhaps because the wounds are still too fresh to touch. When a wound is infected, sometimes the only way to get it clean is to cause it more pain, to squeeze out the infection and allow it a chance to breathe. It’s a daunting task at times but is always quite relieving afterwards. After cleaning the wound with “The Share,” real healing can begin. Others may be reluctant to share because they feel they are not at an ideal place in their lives to make a change. Life is constant change. “The Share” reminds us of how far we have come and that we can make a difference. We have proven this in our own lives and the lives around us. Where you’re at is exactly where you are meant to be in order to help someone else at this precise moment. Your story matters.
If you’re reluctant to share your story, I ask you to ponder on this: when you entered into recovery, if there hadn’t been that one meeting, that one leader, that one share that sparked you…would you be here today? That person may have hesitated too before he or she stepped forward to say, “I suffered too!” Where would you have been without “The Share?” There is someone else waiting to hear from you, and he or she is waiting for you to step up.
Love and light, fellow travelers.
We cannot do this alone.
Adventure V