We tire easily of good advice- even when it really is good advice. Much of what passes for treatment is some version of good advice. “Do this and life will be better….” “If you do this then problems will not get out of hand again…” “This is the only way to cope with your disease….” But when advice somehow threatens what we are used to or leaves us unsure and afraid we seldom have trouble talking ourself out of it.
For some others they embrace it and it produces a new legalism as they strive to compare their recovery with that of others. It gives them a way to be right and a ticket to expertise.
But recovery is more- much more- than good advice. It is good news. It is about vision and possibility. It gives us new sight and passion for a possibility never before seen or believed. In stories told it gives us hope for our own stories.
It is not about convincing someone that something is good enough to do. It is not in convincing people how they need to be different, but in showing them their real hope is in the value they share with other human beings.
