Sometimes It Snows In April

Prince was right – Sometimes It Snows In April. Turns out it also sometimes sleets, a lot, in May.

Even though there has been a hailstorm almost every single day of May so far this year in the UK, we still look forward to summer. We are planning our outfits for when we will be sitting outside in the sunshine, drinking lemonade and eating ice lollies.

We do this because we have faith things will get better and we put trust in the process of the seasons changing. We don’t start panicking that every day in August will be dark and grey when we are in May, and we don’t ignore the facts and science we have been told about the weather and how the earth spins on its axis.

There might be one day of sunshine, followed by six days of rain. Then two days of sunshine, followed by five days of rain. Yes, the grey skies and mud is irking but we don’t lose hope. Eventually and before we even know it, we will be sprawled like lizards basking in the sunshine, iced tea in hand.

The same goes with recovery. A person’s recovery, in this analogy, is one year of Spring. Some people may experience a consistently warm, sunny Springtime. For others, it might hail every day in May. We don’t judge each year that passes; we know they are all different because that is how Earth works! We shouldn’t compare one person’s recovery to another because we are all different as that is how human biology works!

If we trusted the recovery process like we did the seasons, the process would be plain-sailing. Recovery is hard because we have to trust the freedom will come. We don’t know for sure because we have never experienced it ourselves. Does it exist? Will I get there? Is it worth the darkness I’m going through now? Yes. Yes. Yes.

I’m not saying that if you just keep plodding on in your destructive ways, brighter days will come. Unlike the seasons, recovery cannot and will not just happen with time alone. If the work is not put in, the ‘summer’ will never arrive. If you give up halfway, you’ll end up back in the gloom of winter, where days are short and life is sombre.

The message of this post is for the people working hard in recovery. I see you. Keep going, keep going, keep going. I know it is harder than you ever could have imagined and you don’t know if it will work and you wake up some days wanting to give up and run back. I know you question whether full recovery is real and if you can do it and if it is worth it. It is real, you can do it and just like summer, it’s always worth the spring, even if it hails. Trust the process, friends.

Love you 💖