recovery
Old paradigms die hard. Puking, sweating, convulsing every vestige of What No Longer Works into a heaping pile of shitty compost that will eventually grow something new and beautiful, but not until you’re scraped raw of every notion of what that might be.
McCall Erickson on Substack
My general working definition of compulsive/addictive behavior is “a pathological relationship to any mood-altering experience that has life-damaging consequences.”
John Bradshaw • Healing the Shame That Binds You
This line from David Foster Wallace still haunts me:
“The next suitable person you’re in light conversation with, you stop suddenly in the middle of the conversation and look at the person closely and say, “What’s wrong?” You say it in a concerned way. He’ll say, “What do you mean?” You say, “Something’s wrong. I can tell. What is it?”... See more
And he’ll
Tommy Dixon on Substack
People who trust themselves trust themselves because they’re honest with themselves. More specifically, they’re honest about what they need to restrict themselves from or altogether avoid. We think that the more we trust ourselves, the fewer boundaries we’ll need; the opposite is true. The people who trust themselves the most are the ones who honor
... See moreKatherine Morgan Schafler • The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control
"The particular nature of our shame tells us exactly all the ways we need to come out of hiding. Shame is difficult, shame is painful, shame is our reinforced recoil from the same experiences that previously seemed to break our hearts and made us feel shameful in the first place. But shame is our constant companion, who for our own good and for the
... See moreI knew how quickly a small slip could turn into a full-on relapse. I also knew the biggest problem wasn’t always the relapse itself, but the things I told myself about the relapse.