The spring season brings up many images of renewal. Flowers are blooming, babies are born; the world wakes from its winter sleep. This idea of rebirth can be easily applied to the inner work we do when we embark on the path of recovery. We leave the old way (soil, womb, sleep) for a new one (above ground, alive in the world and awake). I have a professor, Dr. Michael Wapner, who talks about change and how scary and threatening it is for most of us. Dr. Wapner likens our journey of change to that of a hermit crab.
Synopsis:
The process of change can be threatening. Like a hermit crab finding a new shell to inhabit, we too must endure a time of exposure and vulnerability when growing psychologically and emotionally.
Many of us often have the idea that because it’s been years since we’ve been to treatment or started recovery or therapy, we shouldn’t have the “negative feelings” that we do. This can start us down the “shame spiral” or what some have referred to as “feeling bad about feeling bad”. 
I used to think so. If I gave up some of that responsibility and surrendered, I’d be shirking my responsibilities! And I'd be weak!
What is recovery anyway? What’s the difference between sobriety and recovery? Both concepts may seem equally undesirable during the first phases of help-seeking for addiction, alcoholism or other behaviors that no longer serve us.
Brene Brown, a self-proclaimed “researcher/storyteller”, says that our ability to feel loved and accepted comes from having the belief that we are worthy of love and acceptance. Huh? Basically, we have to buy it. If we don’t allow it to be true, it won’t be. But how do we allow this to be true for us if we don’t feel it?
How many of us have thought that life would be so much easier if we only had someone else's? From the outside, Catherine Zeta Jones seems to be the epitome of perfection: beautiful, married to a successful man, gorgeous children. Even with her husband battling cancer, she seems to handle stress with grace and ease. 
Stop the world; I want to get off! This is the title of a musical I did when I was eighteen. Many years later, however, the title remains very meaningful. 
“I need help”. These three little words can be so hard for most of us to say. We are often told to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” or “get over it”. If it was that simple, no one would ever need to go to treatment. We believe that we should be able to solve the problem on our own. And then comes the shame. We feel ashamed that, try as we might, we cannot. The shame feeds the feeling that we are not good enough, not strong enough to solve the problem ourselves. And 