For National Recovery Month, we often talk
about sobriety, addiction, and healing from
substances. But recovery can also be from
people. From stories. From versions of
ourselves that we’ve outgrown.
Recovery is reclaiming.
It’s the process of choosing love—over and over
—especially when it’s hard. Especially when it
means walking away from what looks good on
paper. Especially when the world expects you
to stay quiet, compliant, and small.
My recovery was choosing to stay open. To love
again. To trust myself. To believe that my past
did not define my future.
I didn’t just survive addiction-adjacent trauma.
I thrived beyond it.
I had to rebuild my nervous system. Rebuild my
faith. Rebuild my sense of self.
And each brick was laid in love.
Love for my truth. Love for my joy. Love for the
version of me who never gave up.
The New Definition of Recovery
Because I didn’t wait for life to calm before I
got still.
Because I didn’t let other people’s expectations
rewrite my story.
Because I remembered who I was—and I chose
her.
I’m unshakeable not because I avoided storms,
but because I learned how to anchor myself in
love through them. That’s what recovery gave
me. That’s what my self-love taught me. That’s
what every tear, every prayer, every hard
decision etched into my soul.
And now, when storms come—I don’t flinch. I
steady myself. I root down. I listen inward. And I
rise.
That’s what it means to be anchored in love.
That’s what makes me unshakeable.
Why I’m Still Standing
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