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]]> http://jacstoronto.org/test/feed/ 0 My Story http://jacstoronto.org/my-story/ http://jacstoronto.org/my-story/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:50:23 +0000 Shayna Nussbaum http://jacstoronto.org/?p=479 I really consider JACS to be the single best decision I ever made. I came into JACS as a young teenager, and I have been here ever since. My story starts with the Outreach and Education meeting, as a frightened, …

]]> I really consider JACS to be the single best decision I ever made. I came into JACS as a young teenager, and I have been here ever since. My story starts with the Outreach and Education meeting, as a frightened, confused, and alienated girl, and continues with my participation in JACS as a young woman, no longer alone, facing everything and recovering, instead of running. I learned that there were others who went through similar experiences, and that it was not my responsibility to be the strong one, that I can be vulnerable and ask for help when I need to, and that I can trust that the people at JACS will always be there to celebrate in my triumphs, and to support me in the bad times.

When I try to imagine what my life would be like had I never been to JACS, I see years of needless pain, a life of veiled resentments, a life wasted on nursing wounds and building defenses. Without JACS I would still be making reactionary decisions, based on the false knowledge that I was alone, that I was not free, and that no one would want to, or ever could, understand what I was going through. With the help of JACS, I have learned how to make decisions based on what is best for my health and wellbeing, how to reach out to others and create deep, unconditionally loving relationships with others that are not based on expectations for perfection, and are not filled with the chaos and manipulation that pervaded my life before recovery.

If everything is so perfect for me now, why haven’t I moved on, and left JACS behind? Well, for a start, things aren’t perfect. JACS hasn’t delivered me into some fictional world where all troubles are left behind. JACS has only taught me how to face challenges more effectively, and to grow from them. I love the people at JACS in a way that I had never encountered before, and it is imperative for me to foster these relationships by returning to JACS continuously. Most importantly, now that my life is far better than ever before, I want to give back to JACS and its members what they have so freely given me. So I stay with JACS, helping the organization and the community in any way I can, in gratitude for the new life that they have provided me.

This post was submitted by Shayna Nussbaum.

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