I want to riff on where I left off in the last blog entry.
I always thought recovery must be self-defined.
In the 1990s I had a “normal” life with a corporate office job and an apartment. So on paper it looked like I had recovered.
Only I don’t think I had a better life until I turned 35 and started working as a librarian.
Proof that you can be in remission yet not have the kind of life you wanted to have until later on.
In this regard I don’t view recovery as the return to having a so-called “normal” life.
The Merriam-Webster definition of normal is:
Of or having ordinary or average intelligence; conforming to a standard or type; free of mental defect.
Does being average and conforming appeal to you? More power to you should it float you to be normal.
I always wanted to have “an artist’s life in the city.” That was my one true goal when I was in college
Often those of us with broken brains take a detour before coming to be where we want to be.
Thus I’m not keen to accept returning to having a “normal” life as the hallmark of whether a person has recovered.
Isn’t it a relief to know this?
Isn’t it more hopeful to know that you don’t have to fit a mold of what constitutes success?
That you and I can go our merry way having a life of our own design.
As the saying goes:
Sometimes the best raspberries come late in the season.
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