When we were honest, we realized that we had never taken a clean action in our lives. This is when we started to move beyond denial and walk in integrity. We recognized that our behavior had been tainted by the lessons learned in our childhood. Although some good followed us, we needed a fearless inventory to find out and separate what we did not need for the rest of our journey.

We did this with the help of a sponsor or co-sponsor and the Yellow Workbook. We gained strength through due diligence. We slogged through the early days of pain, trusting we would one day act with true autonomy. We saw our way through perfectionism to the other side. We were showing up for life, however imperfectly, even when we felt less-than.

Our future began to unfold, unfettered by the desires of other people. We were no longer tied to our abusers. Like a butterfly from its cocoon, we finally were emerging as our own person.

We never knew this level of feeling existed, and we welcomed these changes. As we became more willing to fight for our lives, we understood that we had value deep inside of us all along. It had been calling out in the dark for us to hear and see.