Recovery hasn’t felt like a breakthrough. It’s felt like a shedding. I am not who I was when I left, and returning to my life has felt like waking up in someone else’s dream. Everything familiar—but slightly off. I’m not just reclaiming my energy. I’m reclaiming myself. It doesn’t look like bouncing back. It looks like thawing. At first, you’re still. Then you’re soft. Then, slowly, you start to feel again—the ache, the grief, the hunger—for life, for joy, for yourself.

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