Let freedom ring

​This Independence Day, freedom was on my mind. Three decades ago when I started my recovery from “addictionisms,” one of the twelve promises stated I’d know a new freedom and a new happiness. 
 
Over the years, I’ve put in the work, and that promise—and the other eleven—has come true in spades. But the scales tipped in my favor again in the past months with some stragglers—mostly about conquering some issues that prevented better health. 
 
Freedom—or enslavement—comes in many forms. 
 
In the past year, I’ve witnessed:
 
• Someone struggle with addiction, and another begin recovering from it. 
 
• Someone find their soul mate, another leave an unfulfilling marriage, and another repair a union that was very nearly lost.
 
• Someone’s child struggle to return to himself after a debilitating injury and another child soar with accomplishment.
 
• Someone delight in getting their bodyweight below 200 pounds for the first time in decades and another who embraced every one of their 200-plus pounds.
 
• Someone welcome a miracle baby into the world and another take their own life.
 
• A widower find a second love and another become a widower.
 
• A dog overcome trauma and a traumatized dog be put down.
 
Life brings us everything on the continuum. We can’t know light without darkness, so I count my blessings for both the ying and yang. 
 
Perhaps this will prompt you to take stock of how you are free, or where you are still enslaved—and also show how we each define or experience those aren’t always the same. Wherever you are on your journey, I believe when we seek answers, they will come. Maybe not as quickly as we desire, but the answers are there, waiting for you. May freedom ring loud and clear for you.