The Power of Recovery - Saving Ourselves

This book of Recovery Columns is a collection of my experiences getting and staying clean and sober. There are two distinct viewpoints, my own and affected family members of an active alcoholic or addict. Addiction is a family disease. The addict or alcoholic is not the only sick family member. Alcoholism and addiction spread through the family like any other infectious disease. No one will be left untouched or unaffected. My goal is to educate those who still suffer and the families that no longer know how to deal with them. As an active addict, the lengths I would go to obtain what I needed from the drug world were long and startling. I did not know who I had become. I was lost to this disease and was desperate for help, I just didn’t know how to ask.

Many missteps are made when non-alcoholics or addicts try to intervene. It takes one to know one. I have had many conversations with well-meaning family members desperate to help. They bring their own brand of desperation to the table and it rarely works. We know how badly we have let you down, we don’t need to have it replayed over and over. You may feel justified, and rightly so, however, it isn’t productive. If the family is concerned the addict may hurt themselves, rehab may help temporarily.

There is only one way out for people like me, long and sustained recovery. What does that mean, you may ask? The dedication we gave to drugs and alcohol must now be redirected. I now spend as much, if not more time on my recovery program as I did in my pursuit of drugs and alcohol. It is a full immersion into cleaning up the wreckage of my past. I now dedicate my time to others seeking a life of recovery and a 12-step program. I was a 27-year drug addict, I needed to be retaught how to live an honorable, principled life. I needed someone to show me how to get out of bed without drugs and alcohol.

I have lost the right to drink and drug and I’m OK with that. I am not naive enough to think I can stay clean and sober without a life in recovery. I am an addict down to my DNA, if I stop recovery I will drink and drug. A life in recovery, a 12-step program, helping others, attending meetings, and being accountable are what have replaced my drugs and alcohol. I was promised a way out early in recovery and I have gained not only a way out but a beautifully simple, clean, and sober life. It is here waiting for anyone who wants it, that’s a promise.