I continue to learn a lot about recovery from my sweet friend Lisa, an amazing woman in recovery from codependency. Lisa borrows a definition of codependency from another brilliant friend of ours—Nikki Myers—who says that codependency is "the disease of looking elsewhere." How simple but profound is that definition?
In her writing and in recovery gatherings, Lisa shares about the magic of being able to transform previously maladaptive coping behaviors into gifts that now enhance her life and her recovery. For example, with a little radical self-love and some honest conversations with herself, her hypervigilance slowly transformed into deep empathic abilities and the gift of being able to read energy.
Perfectionism shifted to the ability to pay greater attention to detail. A desire to please others turned into a passion for being of service and loving herself, radically.
An obsession with maintaining a positive outlook at all costs morphed into a desire to hold space for myriad feelings all at once, from joy to grief. Talk about turning lead into gold—this woman is nailing recovery.
Here's to embracing the dark and the light parts of ourselves and becoming more authentic, whole, and integrated human beings.