Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of being caught up in self. To some of us this is the reality of self-obsession or what is known as self-obsessive thinking. It is difficult for us to really understand this when it is happening. It stems from the workings and the passions of the self. It can be the reality of me, mine, we, and ours. This happens and can be a part of living that we find difficult to be aware of. Most of the time we are living in a sub-conscience acceptance of self because it is the on-living nature of people prone to addictive thinking and behaviors. Even life in recovery feels its affects. It is remedied by the acknowledgement of you and yours and giving purposeful consideration to the other. Such consideration is born out of the power of the other. With it comes the awareness of the reality of our inextricable connection between me and you, and us and them. Especially when you and them are close to us. In doing so we see the face of the other in all people. Especially in those we love. It is an ongoing reality. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery who have been around recovery for a long time continue working at it daily because they know to stay healthy they have to continue to do so. We might even say that we are still trying to figure it out. What some of us are figuring is we live a day at a time and we live one day at a time recovery because many of us don’t consider ourselves recovered. Even those who say that they are recovered still continue practicing one day at a time recovery. We seem to have a common goal which is we want to be healthy, stay healthy, and continue on being healthy. Another part of our common goal is we don’t want to fall back into active addiction so we practice abstinence on a daily basis. Some of us know the reality of relapse even after being in recovery for a long time. Most of us fear the idea of a chemically induced relapse but fear alone doesn’t insure good health. In regards to living healthy we have to keep working at it. Meetings, prayer, medication (for some), reaching out, and giving back. This is a recipe for a healthy life. Enjoy it. It’s all a gift. Peace.
Those of us who live in one day at a time recovery believe we serve others, or shall we say share the realities of recovery with others, in order that they might reap the benefits of our service, and perhaps live reasonable, and happy lives. We who serve others in such a way are in all reality servants to those who are seeking recovery. Such service might be considered a humble endeavor. When we were young in recovery we believed we would become teachers like those who we might have considered ourselves to be learning from. The experience we acquired became lessons for ourselves and when we became humble enough to share our experiences in recovery with others we discovered it was not we who became teachers but it was our one day at a time living and a whole hodgepodge of learned knowledge that became the teacher. We realized that while being in service to others we were actually gaining what little control we could have over our lives. It was then that we learned that being of service to others was a far greater service to ourselves than it was to anyone else. We have discovered the paradox of service. It is an absolute truth. It is also a gift. Peace.
Those of us living in one day at a time recovery often see that we are living a life of unwavering reality. This unwavering reality is that we are human beings. We are human beings who live in a life of constant change but in all reality no matter how much things change we will always need the reality of human connection, human concern, and human companionship. Another constant is we need to experience love from the other. If we do not know who or what the other is, it is our reality of God, the spirit, the energy, or the universe in whom we are inextricably connected with all things and with all people. We learn we are a part of and not a part from. Many will be greater than us but we will be less than none. Perhaps this is the reality of divine love or perhaps it is just an unwavering reality which in its reality ask us to show love, mercy, compassion, and grace to those we share our lives or our beings with. Reality never wavers. It’s a gift.
Often those of us who live in one day at a time recovery who reach out to share our experiences and limited knowledge of navigating life in regards to living with mental health disorders and addiction know perhaps one thing and perhaps one thing only. What we know is we are living reasonable and reasonably happy lives as we navigate the reality of the wilderness. With every step that we take we know and understand that we have been marking our trails as guide posts for others, and as we venture about we will find that others who entered the wilderness before us will mark their trails leading to small villages where those who have came before us have set up have set up homes in which we are welcomed to visit, gain and share experience and knowledge in order that we can experience the true reality of grace found in the wild. We were told that not only did we mark our trails for others, we marked our trails so that we could find our way back out of the wild should we become lost. Those living in villages told us that going back out of the wilderness is important. We all need to do this at times. It’s part of our journey. The wilderness has taught us that we are inextricably connected to the other. Though we might not know why, we do need to go back out of the wild. We sometimes think we are doing this to live in synchronicity with the oneness of the other. We are starting to experience the reality of giving grace to ourselves. We are allowed to come out the wild and no longer be students or teachers. We become people. What else would we be?
One of the realities of living in one day at a time recovery is sometimes it rains. Our hope is that even though the rain falls things will still remain fundamentally okay. When there is too much rain we might think that this really sucks. We would do well to remember that just because the rain might suck it doesn’t mean that life sucks. We need to remember this and also realize that we can sometimes be inclined to think that everything is all or nothing. Life is not always that way. In reality, it seldom is. We might even choose to put on some rain gear and go for a walk in the rain. It helps. Peace.
The reality of being a person living in one day at a time recovery is that there are periods of our lives when we can live as people experiencing a frustrating aloneness. Such aloneness can happen to people living with mental health disorders and addictions. Even though we know that we live with an inextricable connection to other recovering people, and we know that we get to experience wellness, in all reality frustrating aloneness will shred away at the reality of our connection with what we get to understand as the other. It is a self-perpetuating disorder that reinforces the frustration of aloneness perpetuating the illusion of the aloneness of the self. Frustrating aloneness is one of the reoccurring adversities of living with any mental health disorder. Some of us wonder if our propensity to become addicts is our attempt to cope with our pains, our frustrations, and our already conceived aloneness. Some of us experience that living in one day at a time recovery makes life doable. We learn to reach out. Our views change. Our feelings of aloneness become our connection with others. We get to experience the reality of freedom and freedom of choice. We get to experience a reality in which we get to thrive and be happy. Reality becomes a gift. Peace.
Many of us living in one day at a time recovery understand that our egos can be very sensitive at times when we feel as though someone else’s differing knowledge or differing opinion is a challenge to its standing in some kind of self-imagined hierarchy of being. At times when we feel we are being challenged we feel as though we are being disrespected. If we can calm our egos maybe we will be able to understand that differing knowledge or differing opinions can be useful for others because our own knowledge or our own opinions might not work for others 100 % of the time. We will learn either quickly, or sometimes slowly, that we all have our limitations. This is an important reality that we need to understand. What is right for one can be wrong for another. It’s simply reality. Experience, and humility, teaches us this one day at a time. It’s part of the process. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality which is as we judge other people we can often live in error. While we do as such we are often passing judgement as people who believe we have the authority and the ability to do as such. Often we ask ourselves if we have the righteousness to do so. In truth and in reality we know that few people do. What many of us try to do, even when wronged, is we try to act with grace and kindness. The simple fact that acting with grace and kindness can be difficult for us reveals to us the reality that should we judge people we often live in error. Some of our judgements bring us quick to anger and in becoming so we can become spiteful people. Most of us do not want to live the lives of bitter and resentful people. It takes many of us some time in one day at a time recovery to act with grace and kindness. It’s reality. None the less reality teaches us to act with grace and kindness. We can also call such an act forgiveness and mercy. They are gifts. Peace.
What people living in one day at a time recovery get to understand is that we all have our moments of peace and contentment. We even get to experience extended periods of being on the beam. For some of us a joyful and peaceful life is a life in which we usually feel pretty good and pretty good is good enough. Reality is welcomed but the funny thing is reality is usually work. What we have discovered is we are constantly reviewing our thoughts, actions and non-actions. Often as we review such endeavors we find that we often humbly measure up to our responsibilities. We think to ourselves that we are good people aren’t we. If we are humble we know we are people who when given the chance rose to the occasion at times. Realistically though we need not let it go to our heads. In reality we did what was required of us at a certain period, or at such a moment. Nonetheless it’s okay to feel good about ourselves for rising to the occasion. We might even feel grateful. Another reality is we don’t always rise to the occasion. When this happens we realize life, reality, and recovery are work. We might even have lost an opportunity to help someone. This happens on more than one occasion. We know that in our non-actions that we are imperfect. It’s another part of working at reality, life, and one day at a time recovery. We know we will never be perfect but we also know we have moments when we rise to occasion and we can enjoy the joy that it brings to others and ourselves. Rising to the occasion is a gift of reality. We are welcomed into the world of grace. Appreciate it.