Creating a Sense of Purpose & Meaning
Last week we identified the four pillars of recovery and how you can use them to become your best self in recovery; the four pillars being health, home, purpose, and community.
This week we are taking a closer look at how to create a sense of purpose, more specifically how you can use your story to help others in recovery. Let’s get to it, shall we…
Since finding sobriety, I’ve accomplished many things I never considered to be an option, and I was only able to do so through my sobriety. If you would have asked me early in my recovery if I ever intended on sharing my story, I would have told you no. In fact, in the first two years of my sobriety, I was told on numerous occasions I should and my response always was—“I don’t have a story worth telling”.
That phrase that I kept repeating over and over again had me convinced that my story wasn’t valuable, regardless of how many times I was told otherwise. The irony in all of this is, about a year into my sobriety I had a series of divine appointments that gave me the idea of...one day, one day I would share my story.
I was told by someone very close to me [again] that I need to share my testimony. I brushed it off as I always did because I still didn’t believe, that being only a year into my sobriety, I had a story worth telling nevertheless could make an impact on the lives of others.
Later that day, I plugged in my phone and hit play on the latest episode of The Achieve Your Goals podcast by Hal Elrod, and the episode ‘You Must Write a Book with Honoree Corder’, echoed through my car. It was at that moment I finally said, “Okay God, I’m listening”.
The thing is though, at that time in my life, I was struggling with the potential barrier of my past being held against me when it came to launching my marketing business. That even though that wasn’t who I was anymore, I feared potential clients would choose not to do business with me because of my past self.
It was from then on, that I made the decision that I was going to put my story out there, one day, to not only inspire others that they too can overcome adversity and addiction but more so as a vehicle for anyone who didn’t want to work with me or my business due to my past.
I’ll be 100% honest with you, that one day turned into years!
Don’t Be Like Me
Believe me when I say there is power in your story and there are others out there that need to hear it!
Don’t be like me and live under the umbrella of fear and self-shame. I can honestly say that I did the recovery community a disservice by not believing in myself and my testimony sooner, we need connection now more than ever, and there is someone out there that needs to hear what you have to say.
When I was in CRU, we met once a week for a bible study, but it was much more than that. It was a closed space where I could openly share little pieces of my story to not only process what I was feeling but also to find healing. It was a community of people who were genuine and supportive and gave me the opportunity to form meaningful connections.
As I’ve said before, I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I was being completely transparent and vulnerable in that environment, I actually was helping people. I didn’t have this epiphany until much later into my journey, but that’s beside the point, hindsight is twenty-twenty right?
While yes, I wholeheartedly believe your story can make a huge difference within the recovery community, it doesn’t mean you have to put your entire story out there for the world to know, it can be as simple as sharing it in a closed space where you feel most comfortable to walk through it.
My first experience sharing my story in recovery was through counseling and as time went on, I became more open within CRU and continued to share my testimony in that space.
By being of service and helping others, we, in turn, help ourselves; and I don’t mean that in a selfish way either, because it doesn’t work that way. But, we do get a sense of self-fulfillment and purpose through being of service to others.
If you don’t feel you are at that point yet, that is entirely okay, it is a process and takes time. But I am here to serve you when you are ready to share your testimony by using my background in business, marketing, and recovery coaching to help you unpack your story and bring hope to others.
For those of you who do feel you might be ready to put your story out there once and for all—raising my hand over here!—I want to invite you to my FREE workshop that guides you through the process of unpacking your story to find clarity, define your message, and build confidence in yourself and your testimony.
This workshop will be kicking off in March, preregister here to get access to all the details!
If you are not entirely ready, that is okay too, I do still encourage you to join us as you will walk away with something of value for when you are.