By Lauren Mehr MS, LPC, CCTP
Recently, someone I greatly admire celebrated her 60th birthday by jumping out of a plane…on purpose! She had decided that she wanted to live her 60th year as a ‘year of experiences’ and not let the number define who she is capable of being or what she is capable of experiencing. The week of her jump, she found herself second-guessing her choice, wrestling with her fear and the constant voice of ‘what if’—that, however, did not stop her and on August 26th she approached the open door of the plane and with nothing else but faith (and a push from the tandem jumper attached to her) she jumped; showing the world, but most importantly herself, that age is just a number and fear is no reason to stay on the ground.
The Healing Journey
Through my professional experiences and my own healing journey, I have found that recovery consists of many moments standing at the proverbial open plane door wondering, ‘Should I jump?’ ‘What if something bad happened?’ ‘It’s not that bad’ and so on, I think you get the point. Yet every time I face my fear and take that leap of faith, the rewards are immeasurable and often unseen to the outside observer. In fact, that is exactly how I ended up working at The Meadows. Everything in my head said, “this makes NO sense, stay where you are comfortable, stay with the familiar” and when I slowed down and listened to my body and my intuition all I heard was “take the leap, it is time”—so I did, and it was one of the best, most terrifying experiences I have had in my life thus far. To leave behind everything and everyone I had known in my life to this point and trust that my recovery would lead me where I am meant to be, was truly a ‘leaping’ moment.
Life After Healing
At some point in our healing journey, we find ourselves asking the question now what? We’ve gone into the darkness, we’ve wrestled with our demons, and have come out the other side. As a therapist in the workshops, I am privileged to work with so many people who have taken multiple leaps in their own recoveries and healing journeys, and many of them ask “Now what?” Thrive is a workshop specifically created to help you explore and embrace your ‘now what’. Based on Tian Dayton’s Relational Trauma Repair model, this workshop affords participants the opportunity to use the wisdom of their bodies to map out the life they want to live while exploring those lingering roadblocks to living their actualized life. This 5-day experiential workshop walks participants through the transition from healing the past to living for the now by addressing the following themes:
Engage: Be more fully and mindfully present in relationships and day-to-day life.
Embrace: Find a deepened and more purposeful sense of self.
Expand: Revitalize life roles.
Energize: Forgive the past to live more fully in the present.
Empower: Take ownership of one’s healing attitude towards life.
The day we step out of the shadows of our past traumas and addictions and step into the light of being alive is the day we start to THRIVE!