One of my favorite quotes is "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."* It nearly brings me to tears as I sit here, thinking about how it feels to regularly witness women blooming in recovery. Most of them have no idea how to move into their potential because they are so used to playing small.
I can totally relate. Staying wrapped in my fear, with low self-esteem, in the throes of addiction or dysfunction was the safest place for me to live before I started my healing journey.
Stepping into the daylight of recovery and letting other women nourish and support me gave me the hope and the direction that I needed to plant my life firmly in recovery. I'll be forever grateful for the flowers who came before me.
Risk-taking in recovery creates an entirely different bouquet of life-affirming experiences. *Although frequently attributed to Anaïs Nin, this quote was actually published by poet Elizabeth Appell in 1979 under the name Lassie Benton.