[Astro]

Early recovery, divorce and being kicked out of my home, those things left me feeling worthless, useless, and hopeless.

SSRI's helped pull me out of the pit but I only took those the first year. What helped the most was therapy, 12 Step meetings, and mostly service work that reinforced the fact that I was useful, my experience and sharing could help people, and that I was a genuinely caring and giving person. Just talking to someone reminded me that I was alive, I could smile and laugh. My first 4-5 months of recovery, I felt guilty about having those good feelings.

To this day it's still humble volunteer and service work that builds me up, but it's also the relationship with my children, friends, and family that tells me that I'm a loveable human being.

It's so hard to be gentle on ourselves, and to love ourselves, but I firmly believe that when we actively work a program of recovery, our self-worth is tremendous.