Hey all! I’ve noticed that there has been a little bit of negativity floating around and I just want to take a minute to talk about how I feel in this community.
I hope that this forum can be as welcoming and supportive for everyone as it has been for me. I find it very helpful to remind myself that we are all learning to face/manage our emotions (without squashing them with chemicals) for the first time in years. Therefore, we are all very sensitive and tensions can sometimes run high.
If someone says something I find offensive or disagrees with me - I take a step back and try to see things from their point of view. Or I’ll take what they have said and imagine it opening with “In my experience…” or “It is my opinion that…” This helps me put things in perspective (as much as possible when conversing with strangers online) and not internalize the issue. I’m still learning to deal with my emotions (including anger) just like everyone else.
It’s impossible to fully understand where another person is coming from especially online…but we can try! We all have unique backgrounds and experiences. Ultimately we are here to support each other and help navigate our lives in this thing called sobriety. There is no one size fits all approach - if there was things would be a lot easier.
I really value all of you here on the forum. I just wanted to take a minute to express my gratitude for the plethora of personalities and unique insight each of you provides. I hope you all have a wonderful, sober day.
Dear YOU,
Thank you for being such an important part of my sobriety journey. Every last one of you have helped me in some way. You have always made me feel welcome, and for that, I’m truly grateful. We are all going through some sort of struggle in that moment and I need to remember this more often.
I want to apologize for making you feel uncomfortable or not a part of this group…because you are. I’ll be more mindful of this. I don’t always realize when I hurt someone’s feelings (especially online). Please keep sharing, I look forward to it. Mel
I’ve been thinking about this negativity thing over the last couple of days and without taking anything away from what you’ve said MissQuinn, I think it’s a bit like ‘no alcohol’ booze. 0.05 percent. In the (approaching) 3 months that the forum’s kept me on track I’ve experienced huge amounts of positivity, read many amazing and inspiring real stories, some sad and tragic, been shocked by strong people giving in and then picking themselves back up again, amazing sparkly characters bouncing around every post, disappearing and sadly sometimes not reappearing, quiet people struggling along and eventually finding their voices, the list could easily continue.
And the most amazing thing about us? We’re the very people that the ‘great and the good’ of society look down upon! The liars, deceivers, drunks and drug addicts (from around the world), helping each other to recover, to get well, without ‘Authority’ to guide us.
Isn’t that truly amazing!
Mel