You're a Victim Until You're 18. After That, You're a Volunteer. | Jessica L. Morris

Send us Fan MailJessica Morris grew up the youngest of four kids in a minister's home that looked perfect from the outside. Behind closed doors, her father was an abusive alcoholic, her mother was the family's chief enabler, and at a young age her father told her she was a mistake — that her parents only wanted three children. She carried that as her identity for decades.In this conversation, Jessica walks through what it was like growing up terrified of both her father and God, how shame turned into resentment and then addiction — first food, then alcohol — and the years she spent quietly convinced that as long as she had someone to blame, she didn't have to change anything. She talks about the moment in early recovery when an older woman in the program told her, "you're a victim until you're 18, and after that you're a volunteer," and how that line cracked open everything she'd been avoiding.We get into the difference between shame and resentment, what it actually looks like to take responsibility for your part in your own suffering, her complicated and eventually redemptive relationship with faith, and the counseling session that reframed her entire life story — from "nobody wanted me" to "somebody really important wants me here."Jessica is an author, poet, and spiritual director. She's the author of Higher Powered and her newest release, Sunbathing: Basking in the Word of God, and is currently working on a poetry collection.This one goes deep into faith, addiction, family dysfunction, and what it means to finally stop volunteering for your own pain.🌐 Learn more about Jessica, read her blog, or find her books: https://jessicalmorris.com/Support the show