“Write what you know.”
Almost a decade ago, I began doing just that. My writing journey started with faith-filled content meant for the masses. Within a couple of years, I was engaging with people all over the globe with a small (by today’s standards) reach of 23k people. Sounds grand.
However, life became complicated when, for the first time, I realized not only was mental illness a part of my story, but the challenge of addiction was too. With children involved in substance use, I was watching lives fall apart around me. They experienced legal issues, evictions, homelessness, overdose, divorce, suicide attempts, hospitalizations, dual diagnosis, and death.
As they went through this overwhelming loss of living, I sat by trying to understand how to help motivate, change, and even save my child’s life. Finally, after disappearances, vehicles accidents and injuries, theft, lies, manipulation, deceit, jail, and learning to parent my grandkids from a place where I felt a failure, I came to the end of myself.
After over a decade of trauma and pain, I discovered I am not my child’s savior. I cannot fix, correct, or motivate them into sobriety- and everything changed.
I handed one the number to the Salvation Army, and the other had to choose homelessness or treatment. After living in their chaos simultaneously for one year, our home was no longer an option in the journey of addiction or recovery.
They began steering the wheel toward sobriety and recovery a year ago and eight months ago. Within their successes and failures, we see growth. I acknowledge their hard work, but I know there is still work ahead.
For me, I began my recovery earlier this year. Navigating those early days was rough. However, I continue to gain wisdom as we all move forward.
My blog is peppered with posts from the past and will be bright with posts of today. However, I will not recreate my story by leaving part of it out. That would not be authentic to my transparency.
It’s not only my story, but one of Parents and Addicts worldwide trying to maintain a connection in the most brutal battle they know.
Welcome to Lisa’s Authentic Truths- a journey through faith in mental illness, addiction, life, and growth!
*Focused on my journey with addicted children, raising my grandkids, and mental health and wellness, you will also find I use this space for personal reflection and discussions outside those topics- all part of my emotional outlet and well-being.
