My name is Julie. I am 25, from Michigan, and have been recovering for three years. Recently these thoughts hit me:
I spent most of my life being told what I am. Labeled a junkie. Or a drunk. Labeled a failure. Labeled the eternal “fuck up” of the family.
My identity as a woman was what I was in my addiction. I was a whore. I was dirty. I was a junkie. I was useless. I was a disappointment. I was…
We spend our lives, as women, being labeled. We spend our addictions labeling ourselves. We spend years and years breaking ourselves down. For me, breaking free from my heroin addiction and alcoholism meant breaking free from the labels placed on me.
No longer, could anyone tell me what I am.
Today, I can tell you honestly and through and through, what I am not.
I am not my disease.
I am not my eating disorder.
I am not my depression.
I am not my past.
I am a mother. A friend. A daughter. A sister. An employee. A woman full of love, faith, and an abundant future.
I am a miracle
I am life.
And so are you.
Namaste friends.
This beautiful poem was submitted by Julie Karasin.
photo credit: Rowena Waack via photopin cc
2 Comments
I love this. Labels can make you feel like nobodies . We may be recovering alcoholic s but we are so much more. My gramma just recently because of something I wrote ssid ginny its like being a homosexual you dont tell people your a recovering alcoholic. How awful right im me not just a label of what ive done . Thank u so much for writing this it made me smile when I read it.
Thank you! Those labels are heavy burdens, so hard to throw off. Its scary how long they stay. Sometimes I think that for me accepting they are there but distancing from those who put them there is helpful.