Listen Linda

Life happens, we get triggered and our emotions can affect our behavior. When there is trauma attached to our past, and then wounds get reopened. It’s overwhelming. And one can’t always maintain sobriety. And when it’s a case for mental health attached to traumatic experiences. It’s like it happened all over again. And suddenly…BOOM! You are back at square one. But it’s okay. Life happens. Life on life’s terms. What’s big is admitting we messed up.

When you know, you know. Not just in the quiet certainty of love or purpose, but in aching awareness that life doesn’t wait for us to be ready. It’s a head on collision. It barrels forward–unapologetic, raw, and sometimes cruel. And in that knowing, there’s a kind of sacred truth: that staying sober, staying grounded, staying whole—isn’t a straight line. It’s a winding path littered with triggers, memories, and moments that feel like echoes of the past crashing into the present.

Sobriety isn’t just abstaining. It’s choosing clarity when chaos feels more familiar. It’s facing the storm without the shield we once leaned on. And when trauma is stitched into your history, our sobriety becomes a battlefield—where every step forward becomes a risk. Because we know it can open wounds, we thought we once healed. One scent, one sound, one silence too loud—and suddenly BOOM…you’re not just remembering. You’re reliving. And the fall back to square one feels like it’s betrayal by your own mind, your own heart. But there’s grace in it.

Square one isn’t failure. It’s our place of reckoning. A place where honesty meets humility. Where you say, “I messed up,” not as a confession of weakness, but as a declaration of strength. Because it takes courage to admit you stumbled. It takes soul to rise again when the weight of our past tries to keep us down.

Darling, life on life’s terms doesn’t mean we get to control the waves. But we get to choose how we surface. And every time you choose to come back—to sobriety, to self-love, to truth—you’re not starting over. You’re continuing. You are evolving. It’s all part of the healing process for our journey to Recovery.