A poster on Tumblr says wisely:

The phrase “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” can apply to terrible things too. You may not realize the amount of pain, depression, or abuse you are living through until you experience what life can be without it

 Every recovery story is probably different.

I’ve been thinking lately about the tiny little things that are so much better in my life. Even when I’m sad or anxious, my overall life is so much more bright and joyous, and it comes from a collection of little things that I’ve been able to shed.

I no longer:

– have to sleep with my face to the door, and back to the wall

(lest I give you the wrong impression: nothing has actually come for me through a door or window, it was just a possibility)

– compulsively lock the bathroom door in my own house

(seriously, life will not shatter if someone walks in on me)

these are just tiny signs. But they mean a lot to me.

Because they mean I am experiencing the world, for all it’s ups and downs, as a less terrifying place.

And I am glad.