Hello everyone,
Welcome to my newsletter, I will be writing periodical life updates and posting new poems.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aaron Franklin and I am a young professional who lives in the South Metro Atlanta area. I work as a Behavioral Therapist and I am in graduate school for my masters in mental health counseling. My long term goal is to have my own mental health practice someday. I am entering into this field due to my own dealings with mental health and addiction recovery. I am also a very spiritual person and I identify as a Christian. My relationship with the Lord has grown significantly over this past year, and I am living proof that he can save anyone.
This year has mark a significant closing of my life’s previous chapter, and I am moving into a season of restoration and rest. This past year has taught me that healing isn’t a fast or linear process, and that people aren’t always who they claim to be. I think that God uses our periods of suffering to teach us critical lessons to redefine our identity and characters. In 2023, I had to address the metaphorical skeletons in the closet and clean house. These skeletons were sexual abuse, childhood trauma, alcoholism, and codependency.
Our healing can best be described as peeling back an onion, and as we peel back these layers we discover the root cause of our pain. The root cause to my suffering was holding onto all of the suffering I had endured as a child. A child who had to learn the complex behavior of adults at an early age. These complex behaviors distorted my view on God’s pure intentions of sexual intimacy and family stability. Our past has a funny way of catching up to us; especially when we’ve been running from ourselves for most of our lives. I relied heavily on alcohol as my main means of coping, and I couldn’t go a day without experiencing the numbness. I stopped drinking March 11, 2023, and I have not had any relapses with alcohol. Sobriety is a weird place to be in when you first start, but it does get better! Life is so worth living and you are so worth loving!
Thanks,
Aaron.