[Leed]

From Days of Healing Days of Joy

"You're only as sick as your secrets".........................................Kay B.

To think is to discover what's in the head. To share is to discover what's in the heart. In truth, we often don't know exactly what we think and feel until we share it with another. It is through the mysterious subtle, powerful act of sharing that we can muster the courage to shed our fears. It is by asking for and gaining the support of others that we can dare to stand up in the sunshine with the rest of God's creatures.

Our friends in the program can't know what we don't tell them. They aren't mind readers. And they aren't deserving of our resentment and anger, which they often get, for not responding to a problem we didn't share with them. "Why don't they see?" we may whine to ourselves. "I have helped many of these people in their times of need. Now they're letting me bleed to death. Do I have to die before someone notices?"

No. Probably all we have to do is tell them. If we let them know what's happening, we'll be amazed to find they were there for us all the time.
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Today, I will challenge all of my reasons for not sharing. I will give sharing -and myself - a chance.

So often, that's what happens in relationships -- we don't tell our spouses what the matter is. Like it says, we're only as sick as our secrets. Perhaps we have relapsed -- shouldn't we tell them? Of course!!! Perhaps we're depressed. Shouldn't we tell them? Certainly. No one can read our minds, and so often we assume they should be able to just KNOW. How can they know if we don't tell them? Any relationship will be better if they know what's wrong.

[Travelinglady]

Thanks!

[layla11]

Thanks Leed! That is some powerful words. My fears keep me from sharing sometimes, but I see it is a necessary part of recovery. Ive kept to myself for many years and just by habit didn't tell. What a freedom and something to practice.