I’ve had no words for the past few days. Maybe it’s because someone I love has lost someone she loves. I keep looking for words to offer comfort, but there are no words that can take away that loss and none that can make it better. I’ve been putting so much energy into offering that comfort over the miles and the telephone signals that I think it sapped my other energies.
I kept saying, “I don’t know what to say.” She finally said, “You don’t have to.”
That exchange of words released something inside me. I finally realized I DON’T have to know what to say to her. I don’t have to know what to say to all of you. All I need is the desire to keep writing. (AA members just have to have the desire to STOP drinking.) It’s easier to keep doing something that is good for me and makes me who I am than to stop doing something that will hurt me over and over.
Let me borrow one more thing from 12-step programs:
“Hi, I’m Lana, and I am a writer.”
Finding Our Voices Together 