Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Purging My Story

"9. When you feel like running away, let yourself feel the scare. Think about what you fear will happen and decide what you need to do." ~from Be-Good-To-Yourself Therapy by Cherry Hartman
Yesterday I wanted to numb the scare right out of my consciousness. To hell with all this recovery work. I wanted to throw it far away from me. But, damn. A person can never go back there whole heartedly. It's like wanting to stop for a lobotomy before committing the crime so one can plead insanity instead of guilty. Well, other than where I was yesterday in my thinking was pure insanity as understood in recovery talk. Knowing there is a better way rains on a parade real quick. So I skirted the fringes, dipped in my toes and eventually made a phone call to ask for confirmation that I was lying to myself, wasn't I? We are only as sick as our sickest secret she replied. So I opened the door and told mine. I made a commitment to stop dipping my toes in; behaviour that will lead to a full blown relapse if I continue. It feels like my recovery is slipping right through my fingers.

Pay attention.

Two words.
So easy to type.
Much harder to live.
They're the price of sanity.

I've been reading a book this week Writing To Save Your Life. I thought it was a book on journalling. That seemed harmless enough. I've journalled for years and a new book on it wouldn't hurt anything. At first I read and thought wow and by the end I was thinking fuck, so much for living in oblivion. The author takes one on an inner journey so raw, so true that to put pen to paper will purge my story right out of my body.

That is my big scare right now.

So I've been journalling short and sweet and mindless all week. Not much different than my grandma's diaries of the 1960's where Monday was wash day and Tuesday ironing. Safe, without revealing anything of myself.

I fear my own story.
I need to purge it anyway.

6 comments:

owenswain said...

Lot's of ephemera sometimes leads to little epiphanies; journal on.

O | onionboy.ca (art & faith) | luminousmiseries.ca {faith & art}

annie said...

I have that book! I remembered it just the other day and thought I needed to get it out and reread it. Now I read about it on your blog...guess that means I really should look at it again.

You're right, it's not an easy book.

Heidi Renee said...

and I can't wait to read it!! (your story, not the book!) :]

daisymarie said...

I fear my own story....

Somehow I can relate to this and I'm not sure I like the way it feels.....

Peter said...

Sociologist Max Weber wrote literally to stay sane--his output was dozens of books, millions of words.

Onionboy is on the money--the "surface" stuff can reveal plenty and is just as legitimate as the "recovery" stuff. Marcel Proulx managed to write a huge multi-volume book on the everyday, mundane, ordinary surface stuff, after all.

Fact is, we can't write the deep, meaningful stuff all the time--we'd burn to a crisp. So go easy on yourself, already, Hopester!

Hidden One said...

Writing is one of the many ways God gave humanity to heal.