Maggie's Story - Once Healed, Our Traumas are a Gift

Maggie’s tale of engaging and overcoming traumas is a powerful combination of sobriety, the twelve steps and therapy. It parallels what Bill W. came to say of personal inventory work, that it would move beyond an accounting of bad behavior and personal flaws to exploring “the damages that occurred to us during life and a sincere effort to look at them in a true perspective.” (Letter, 1957)

As Maggie explains from her own life, trauma is not what we imagined. It can be Big Trauma, or little trauma. Regardless, she helps us see how deeply distressing or disturbing events overwhelm our ability and willingness to cope. And that often these factors are at the core of our alcoholism or addiction.

The best part of her story though is how that difficult inner work became a springboard for an increasingly profound recovery. How it turned her from despair to contentment in long-term sobriety.

In the end, Maggie’s story is what many of were seeking all along: a means to put ghosts from the past back in the past. Then in doing so, to finally heal in most powerful ways.

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For more information about trauma and recovery, attached is a chapter from the book Progressive Recovery through the Twelve Steps: Emotionally Sober for Life. In addition, you can find a wealth of resources through the work of Gabor Mate on trauma and addiction.