Success is
This post is inspired after a conversation with by my ex-husband, who was prescribed medication during a season of depression tied to a life event—not because of a lifelong chemical imbalance, as pharmaceutical companies and far too many doctors want people to believe.
When we talk about “success stories,” most of us picture something very specific: our spouse tapering off the medication, surviving withdrawal, and finally getting their feelings back. We imagine them returning to who they were. We imagine reconciliation. We imagine our marriage being restored.
And yet, we’ve learned that success doesn’t only come in the form of a happy ending.
It is a success to understand that medication caused what happened, even when that truth is painful to accept.
It is a success that our spouse came off the medication, regardless of how long or complicated the healing process may be.
It is a success to accept, day by day, that there is nothing we can do to force healing or bring feelings back faster.
It is a success to sit with grief, unanswered questions, and loss—and still keep going.
It is a success to rebuild our lives when the future we imagined no longer exists.
It is a success to find moments of peace in the middle of a storm that has not yet passed.
For many of us:
We have not reconciled.
Their feelings have not fully returned.
And some days, that reality hurts more than words can hold.
But every day we survive.
Every day we choose to move forward instead of giving up.
Every day we learn how to live alongside uncertainty.
That is a success, too.
And it deserves to be seen.
