I just read an inspiring testimony from Courtney Rundell, a freelance blogger, I want to share with you. Courtney is bipolar and in recovery herself from alcohol and drug addictions.
Courtney begins her article, “My Happy Pill,” by describing the Zoloft commercial with the little bouncing ball and the blue bird and the raining clouds who gets fixed after taking his pill:
“For years, I bought the idea of a happy pill – all I’d need to get to “happily ever after” was a prescription. Boy was I wrong. “
Then she talks about how she now realizes that her counseling sessions and 12-step program are what actually keep her going. And ends the article by describing what recovery for her really looks like:
“I’d like to make my own Zoloft commercial. The beginning would be the same, but after he takes the pill, he has night sweats and binges on carbohydrates. He may have lost the rain cloud, but he’s gained fifteen pounds. The chubby ball then trudges to therapy, noticing the happy birds but not yet singing with them, sleeps for 12 hours, downs a cup of coffee and bounces off to his support group. He keeps up this routine for several months, after which he turns to the camera and slowly smiles.
Somehow I don’t think my version would fit into a one-minute time slot.”
Courtney makes some really good points in her article. Sometimes we think that a simple pill will fix our lives. But this rarely works. Most of the time we have to invest hard-work and effort into our recovery.
Courtney’s well-written and composed testimony reminds us all of what it takes to stay sober.
Original Zoloft Commercial