Two interesting things happened today making me feel a tiny bit less alone in the world of recovery.
1. A young friend, too young to be thinking these thoughts, posted the following image regarding chronic illness. It's a bit like the pain chart that was developed about twenty years ago in medical circles to help quantify pain (On a scale from one to ten, how's your pain today?) There are enough chronic pain and illness sufferers out there to put something together to help us all communicate better.
2. The second was a poem recently rediscovered by John O'Donohue. It is the first time I've found poetic writing that completely nailed what the last few years has felt like. A snippet from For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing:
You have been forced to enter empty time. The desire that drove you has relinquished. There is nothing else to do now but rest And patiently learn to receive the self You have forsaken in the race of days.
The rest here.
I am not struggling as much feeling alone in my recovery, but I found both of these today to be deeply meaningful, healing.