In AA, we say, “there are no big deal.” I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it. But today I do

One of the gifts of having a mental illness, addiction, or deep emotional wounds is that we have already experienced abject suffering and the ends of our personal worlds through depressive episodes, self-inflicted tragedies, self-harm, isolation, institutionalization, homelessness, suicidality, and/or a host of other ways.

In the course of these experiences that brought us to our knees, many of us came to terms with our mortality and learned to be grateful for one more day, without expecting a tomorrow. We also tend to find a Power Greater than Ourselves, whatever that may look like. Which for me, further alleviates anxiety about the potential of the world ending.

In AA, we say, “there are no big deal.” I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it. But today I do.