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When Mental Health and Addiction Meet Resilience and Strength By BigmommaJ
There’s a moment in every healing journey when brokenness and bravery collide — when you’re standing in the middle of everything that tried to destroy you and realizing you’re somehow still here. Still breathing. Still fighting. Still rising.
I’ve lived that moment more times than I can count.
Recovery isn’t just something I write about — it’s the soil I’m rebuilding my life from. Mental health struggles, addiction, trauma… these weren’t chapters I chose, but they shaped the woman I’m becoming. They sharpened my purpose. They carved out a space in me where resilience could finally take root.
And somewhere in the middle of surviving, I found a voice — the same voice that now fuels Rise Above Your Norm, and the voice that whispers through every poem I write:
“I broke,
but the pieces learned how to glow.
Pain taught me what strength really is not the absence of scars, but the courage to keep walking even when I’m bleeding.”
Where Struggle Meets Strength
Mental illness and addiction don’t arrive gently. They come like storms — unpredictable, exhausting, relentless. They shape your days, your choices, your self-worth. They don’t just live in your mind; they settle into your bones.
But resilience…
Resilience rises quietly, long before you recognize it.
It shows up in small moments:
The morning you didn’t want to wake up but did anyway.
The night you fought the urge to escape and chose to stay present.
The memories you’ve survived even though they still echo.
The way you’re seeking healing now, even after being told you didn’t deserve it.
Each step forward — even trembling — is a step back into yourself.
And every time I rise, I hear the truth inside me:
“Strength doesn’t roar.
Sometimes it barely whispers.
But even a whisper
can move a mountain
when it comes from a soul
that refuses to die.”
Addiction Isn’t a Weakness — It’s a Wound
My years in child welfare taught me what the world still doesn’t understand:
Addiction is not a failure. Addiction is a wound.
A wound carried by children who learned to survive before they learned to speak their pain.
A wound carried by adults who were never taught how to heal.
A wound carried by anyone who ever tried to numb what no one helped them process.
No one wakes up wanting to destroy themselves. Addiction begins as an escape — a moment of silence from the noise trauma leaves behind.
As I’ve whispered to myself in my darkest hours:
“I was never addicted to the substance —
I was addicted to the silence
it gave my mind.”
The Power They Don’t See
People see the recovery.
They rarely see the war.
They don’t see the panic behind your smile.
The memories that ambush you.
The nights you cry quietly so no one hears.
The weight you still carry alone.
But you know.
And that’s why your resilience is extraordinary.
Not because it makes you fearless —
but because you choose to fight even when fear sits beside you.
Not because you’ve healed everything —
but because you’re healing anyway.
Not because you’ve never fallen —
but because you learned how to rise.
“Call me broken,
but know this —
every crack in me
is where the light forced its way in.”
Rising Above the Old “Normal”
I named my blog and future practice Rise Above Your Norm because I had to redefine what “normal” meant for me.
My old normal was chaos.
My old normal was survival.
My old normal was pain disguised as strength.
But my new chapter?
It’s healing.
It’s honesty.
It’s purpose.
Some days I feel like the warrior; some days I feel like the wound. But both parts of me are healing. Both parts of me are strong. Both parts of me are mine.
“I rise now,
not because I never fell —
but because I learned
I could.”
If You’re Reading This: You Are Not Alone
If you’re in the middle of your storm, take this with you:
You are not behind.
You are not weak.
You are not hopeless.
You are healing — even if it feels messy.
You are stronger than you realize — even if all you see is survival.
You are becoming someone powerful — even if you can’t see it yet.
Your story is still unfolding.
And your strength is already speaking —
even if only in whispers.
BigmommaJ
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