I’ve heard from several people that healing and recovery have not looked or felt the way they had imagined.  I know this was true for me too. This is a poem I wrote about the dissonance:

HEALING THIS WAY

seems so vague and transient and distracted,
as if you could catch it chewing its nails
or sitting exhausted on the winner’s podium,
weary legs dangling before the number one.
Where is the magical trip across a definitive line,
the diploma, signed and dated and official,
the raw victory cry from the top of a mountain?
I had always dreamed that rescue would be shiny,
but a dull dime is still worth ten cents.

For (lots!) more about OCD and ERP, go to jackieleasommers.com/OCD.

Image credit: Kevin Dooley