For some of us, moving out of isolation in ACA may be the first time we’ve ever reached out to talk with others honestly about our lives and the changes that are happening in them. Using the telephone can be scary.
Here are some ideas from members on why learning to use the phone is important.
One gift to myself is the practice of picking up the phone when I’m feeling good, so my chances to pick it up when I’m not are that much greater.
Carol G.
I was afraid of the phone before coming to this group; afraid I would be used up by people wanting to talk. I’ve learned to have boundaries in this meeting and now the telephone is an important tool in my recovery.
Wendy C.
In my moments of greatest need, the telephone is solid. Unshakeable. Will not let me down.
My inner children need the telephone because when things are scariest, when they are most present in the trauma, they need a presence, the presence of someone in the program, the presence of someone who won’t run away or shame them or shush them or freak out. They need someone who can stay there as they expose the terrible sadness that they have hidden and covered and tried to control for so long.
I am a conduit in those moments. I feel emotion building, building. I don’t know what it is but I know enough to call one member after another until someone answers and is available.
And then the children speak. And the person on the other end of the phone survives. And the children are amazed. It means that they can survive, too.
Jennifer P.
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