Discovering the Northern Lights: Shifting Perspectives on Substance Involvement and Trauma Recovery

Friday we went a bit north to try and find the big northern lights display. All we found was an odd misty looking cloud. When we opened up the camera on our phones, the colors just exploded around us. The problem wasn’t that we were in the wrong place, just that we were looking through the wrong lens. The camera lens didn’t change our reality, just our perspective.

Many of us who are substance involved and have suffered from trauma see ourselves through the wrong lens. You are not what you survived nor what people have told you you are. You are worth the effort, the time, and the healing. Whatever you’ve been through or done, you have value and are valuable to others.