This week I’m going to write about an event that happened to me pretty recently, that all clients go through. Family Weekend. Family Weekend is a time where parents and siblings come to visit their sons at Back2Basics to see what kind of changes they have made concerning recovery, emotions, mindset, life, skills and others. They meet their sons friends, B2B alumni, staff and therapists.
For me, it was an extremely productive weekend. I was not nervous or apprehensive because my career before here only allowed my family to see me once or twice a year, so this Family Weekend visit was like a ‘norm’ for me. Throughout the weekend I admitted to a lot of things to my parents. Unsurprisingly they knew about most of them, some they had guessed, some I had accidentally told them about when I was drinking. I share with them my old mindset. For years my mindset had left me bitter, angry, and cold-hearted. My spirituality was dead, because I blamed God for my friends dying in combat, killing themselves or being so wounded physically or mentally that they were now a shell of their form selves. I shared how I was closed off, not wanting to be vulnerable or weak because I didn’t want them to worry and because I had to be strong for my soldiers. Then I shared how I’ve changed. Its still a work in progress, but now I’m starting to reform to my natural state of being and am proud of it. Caring, compassionate, hones, hopeful. I’m learning how to open up to others. And I’m truly seeing results. The more good I put into the world, the more I get back. I had a great time with my parents, and my buddy Mike who came along. They saw the changes and encouraged me to keep working on them. Some parts were hard, some emotional, some educational and a lot of fun.
So for anyone reading this before visiting their son, please just be open and honest. Get it all out there, because if it gets held on to, the healing cannot begin. I can’t express enough how thankful I am for this weekend, the opportunity to come here and the people who made this possible and am excited to see what changes happen in the next few months.
Until next time, Tim R
