Much like the many quotes before this one we are offered truth and hope. Ending Recovery Month and our discussion of Resilience in Recovery with this quote just felt so right. Helen Keller is the epitome of Resilience in Recovery. She was blind, deaf and mute but completely unstoppable. Her journey from incapability to independence was not easy, not at any moment. Generally speaking children/people in her condition were treated as invalids and often simply left to die. Helen had a tribe of people that not only refused to give up on her but they refused to allow Helen to give up. Because of her tribe and her resilience Helen is a legend for her personal accomplishments and the successful battles she won for people with disabilities even today.

It is this resilience in recovery that I wanted her to be the bold finishing quote that will (hopefully) linger in our own recoveries. If we can continue to focus on overcoming all the suffering, the struggles, the battles and the hell in life we will be legends in our own right. We may not go down in history books for the things we accomplish in our life and the lives of others but that doesn’t mean we aren’t legends. Whether you take baby steps, bold leaps, fight single battles or war in a tribe with others… resilience in recovery will lift us into being overcomers.

Recovery month may be complete but we each continue forward in our recovery.

You are worth it. You are resilient. You can recover and stand strong as you overcome.

Be present. Live hope. Dare to fail and succeed.

Sarah Deats

Sarah Deats is the Hope Inc. Stories Inspiration Engineer. Her goals are to make a connection with everyone that she can while building community, spreading hope, and sparking change. She believes that while life may not be easy, it is never lived alone.