Submitted by Sue-Marie on Mon, 03/03/2008 - 1:35pm.
Hi Chelsea, I was glad to see someone else chose themselves to forgive as I did this as well and wondered if it was "okay." I've spent a lot of time, energy and therapy bills forgiving others (my father and ex-husband), but I think the act of forgiving oneself is very powerful. We are so hard on ourselves.
Congratulations on 3 years of sobriety! That's great. One of my best friends is in his 19th year. It's so hard for me to imagine him as a drunk drug addict because he is one of the most together people I know. Yet I'm also very aware that he wouldn't be who he is without his past. It makes me think of ocean glass, the pieces of colored glasses that wash ashore polished and beautiful in their new form. If it weren't for all the crashing waves, tumultous tides and rocky shores, the glass wouldn't transform into rounded forms. Not saying we have to all drag ourselves through the mud, but the reality is that living makes us whole, and not all of life is pretty. I think people who claim never to have done anything regrettable are not very honest. It's part of human nature.
I see myself as a work in progress. I'm sure I will have other reasons to forgive myself in the future, and I try to remember that I am not my behaviors. Sometimes my behaviors may be "bad" but that doesn't mean I am!
Hi Chelsea, I was glad to see someone else chose themselves to forgive as I did this as well and wondered if it was "okay." I've spent a lot of time, energy and therapy bills forgiving others (my father and ex-husband), but I think the act of forgiving oneself is very powerful. We are so hard on ourselves.
Congratulations on 3 years of sobriety! That's great. One of my best friends is in his 19th year. It's so hard for me to imagine him as a drunk drug addict because he is one of the most together people I know. Yet I'm also very aware that he wouldn't be who he is without his past. It makes me think of ocean glass, the pieces of colored glasses that wash ashore polished and beautiful in their new form. If it weren't for all the crashing waves, tumultous tides and rocky shores, the glass wouldn't transform into rounded forms. Not saying we have to all drag ourselves through the mud, but the reality is that living makes us whole, and not all of life is pretty. I think people who claim never to have done anything regrettable are not very honest. It's part of human nature.
I see myself as a work in progress. I'm sure I will have other reasons to forgive myself in the future, and I try to remember that I am not my behaviors. Sometimes my behaviors may be "bad" but that doesn't mean I am!