Time doesn't heal all wounds--this is one of the lies we tell each other with the purpose of soothing each other in times of great agony, but it's a lie all the same. Until recently, I believed this lie, and many other lies told to me by people who only wanted to soothe me in times of agony. Until recently, I only understood lies as something we shouldn't tell, but the truth is, lies are most of we what we tell each other out the fear that keeps us fearful.
Here's what I mean. Every time I "think" something about what someone else is doing, or why, it's a lie. I have no idea why people do what they do, and neither do you.
Every time l tell myself that I am the way I am, it's another lie. I am nothing but an idea I have of myself and as soon as the idea of myself changes, I am no longer the way I thought I was. I am the way I think I am. The thoughts I choose to believe become the things I am and shall become.
This week marks the first of BAYW's mission to make overt what has been, for too long, a covert operation to end the plague of opiate overdose and death before it became a national emergency. It seems we waited too long, but it can never be too late, to make straight what is a crooked road towards a nasty fate.
While it remains my intention to protect the identities of the people and professionals who have suffered the grave loss of life and reputation due to the lies proffered by the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Industry about addiction, treatment, and continued recovery from the emotional and physical illnesses that arise from the disease of addiction, even long after cessation, I have also reached a crisis of conscience which calls me to act in defiance of the "acceptable lies" used to soothe the victims of entirely this preventable loss . Many of the lies being unintentionally told are by recovering addicts, in response to not a selfish, but a desperate need for soothing in a time of extreme grief over the rising numbers of drug addicted children and young adults who have been denied the proper resources for prevention in an age of information and information recovery regarding the more and less extreme effects of some drugs over others.
For every ordinary person who has survived a death defying circumstance, there comes a time when an extraordinary impulse to share the story of survivorship arises--every one has a different story, which is why there is no such thing as "garden variety addict"--people aren't planted, we are cultivated from a whole mix of 23 sets of chromosomes, each. The time has come, to heed the call, so here is mine to you today. Say "Yes" to life, not just "No" to drugs. If you are a parent, remind your child--a yes to life is a no to harmful things. If you are a recovering person, give yourself some credit for stepping overt the lies we tell, to come clean, and by all means, share your truth, and we'll skip the misery.
Buy a hoodie, plus REDD certified T-shirt, put a heart on them--and let's build the energetic force of our "one wild and precious life."
With Heart,
Athena