Some of us living with mental health disorders complicated with addictions find that work is a necessity in life. Some of us are employed at full-time paying jobs which support us and our families. Some of us have part-time jobs and participate at home in doing such things such as cleaning, dishes, laundry, shopping, budgeting and we might even take on the role of primary care-givers for our kids. Some of us just do chores. Some of us have part-time jobs. Some of do casual work. Some of us do volunteer work. What we do discover is once we come into one day at a time recovery we discover that work (paid or not paid) is vital for our health. We understand the reality that not all of us can work at paid employment but we can do the work necessary to live in one day at a time recovery and abstinence. Some of us can’t until we get help. When we get the help – we can. Some of us understand the reality of living with disabling mental health disorders. This is no joke and for those of us who do, the very fact that we’re even living in recovery is a miracle for many of us. Should any of us be able to find our niche while functioning in todays world is enough. We must realize – recovery or not – abstinent or not – working or not, we all have the hope and the chance of finding our place in life. We are enough! We need to reach out. We need to do the work. Peace.
Many of us living in one day at a time recovery after a year or two of recovery believed we were capable lassoing the moon. Such delusions put us in touch with our own grandiose spiritual superiority or should we say our egoic imaginings. The funny thing is people fairly new to recovery believed in us too. The people who had been around for many years – well – they told us to keep our feet on the ground. Years later we understood what they meant. Those who we called old-timers were supportive to us when our feet were on the ground. They told us to keep our eyes on the prize which was to stay abstinent and practice living in recovery just one day at a time. And some of us did. We did funny things like we kept going to meetings in the rooms of recovery. We became humble and did such things like letting go of any notion of spiritual superiority or our whims of being chosen. We accepted we were neither over or under any other people. We strived to be a part of even with our mistaken notions and our peculiar peculiarities. And we learned to listen to everyone. Many marvelous things did happen and would happen to us. We also had and will have our struggles. We begin to understand life. Our feet are on the ground. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery live under a patched up sky. This is the reality of living a mended life. Not only does it take the love of God, the spirit or the universe to help us heal but we also need the love of people we are akin with. Many of us have found such love in the openness and the honesty from people we have met in the rooms of recovery. They have shared their experience, strength and hope with us. When we start to see, and when we start to hear, we understand we are the recipients of compassionate love. Such acts help to patch up the holes in our sky and in doing so our skies are often sunny and blue. We get to understand the freedom of one day at a time recovery. We even get to experience this freedom should our skies cloud over and the rain start to fall. Our reality is that our patched up sky can handle the rain because God, the spirit and the universe working through those we are akin with have helped us to find shelter from the rain by helping us to build a home in the rooms of one day at a time recovery. This freedom we have is the joy of living under a patched up sky. It’s one of the greatest gifts we will experience. We’ve received our lives back. Peace.
Those of us who have been around the rooms of recovery for a long time are often people that cause other people to have resentments. We are the ones who others might believe are a bit daft, a bit weak, or a bit feeble, and we might be. In our reality, if we know what reality is, we will tell you our truth which is we know we are. The sad thing is that we have had or have our resentments too. Our experience has taught us to let go of them easier which is never really easy. We just have or have had more practice at acceptance from a developed wisdom which for all of us is learned knowledge from our pain and our mistakes. Whenever we are living in one day at a time recovery we are never separated from this wisdom for very long. The bottom line is to remain abstinent one day at a time. Our reality is not to leave before the miracle happens and that miracle is the freedom of one day at a time recovery for ourselves and others in the rooms of recovery. It is an inextricable hope for all of us who have been around for a while. It’s no longer just about us. We finally see that. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery find themselves shuffling a deck of spearmint playing cards. When we deal these cards to ourselves or others we want them to smell good and be pleasant to our taste. When we have been in recovery for a while we know such cards are a fallacy as to what life and recovery are all about. Life and recovery often take more work than we have the ability to do by ourselves and often when we get a dose of real recovery it leaves a bad taste in our mouths. Those who help us might tell us that recovery and life are often difficult, and we need to learn to accept its truth which is it is what it is. They know it, others know it and we need to know it. When what it is is hard to do they will tell us that we need to do what needs to be done to understand what real recovery can be all about. Real recovery is about remaining abstinent through difficult times. Other recovering people will help us with getting through difficult times, and when we get through such adversity we stop shuffling our spearmint playing cards. We trade them in for grace with the gratitude of a person who was drowning and were rescued by the reality and experience of others who had been drowning but had been rescued by the reality and experience of others who had rescued them. The grace we receive from others is reality and it is a part of the inextricable bond between recovering people. We will have plenty of good times. We find recovery mostly good enough, sometimes worse but often better. We need not think otherwise. It’s reality. Peace.
Many of us living in one day at a time recovery understand freedom from active addiction. When we have been living in recovery for a while, we begin to understand that such freedom bears with it the reality that we have served this freedom by being faithful to the confines of total abstinence. We understand that sharing such freedom is a responsibility of all who share in the reality of one day at a time recovery. It takes many years of freedom for some of us to understand that we have benefitted from such freedom. Most of us had believed for a while that such freedom was being employable people who were capable of supporting ourselves and our families while being responsible, productive members of society. Being as such is a benefit of recovery but it is not necessarily freedom. When we continue to experience freedom from active addiction that makes it alright for us to be uncertain, wrong and fearful while knowing that such things are what they are, and that gives us the ability to be recovering people who know the meaning of responsible freedom and responsible living as we develop a responsible faith in our imperfection. This lets us know that in all honesty that we are simply people who are beginning to let go of mishaps, resentments and ego, and we hope we might somehow be of service to people by the means of our limited knowledge, our limited insight and our limited experience. We find that we are growing bit by bit year by year – one day at a time. We’re good with that. It’s freedom’s reality. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the importance of being present and living in the now. In as such we can look at the now as an apple orchard. While living in the now we saved enough money to buy an apple orchard. The apple orchard itself was an undertaking from the past. Someone or something at some point had to have planted it and now that we are its care-givers we take care of it in the present. In doing so the orchard stays healthy and is capable of bearing good apples. In doing so we looked forward to the harvest in the future. What was once the future will soon enough become the now, and in that now we harvest the apples. What we cannot use in the now we will preserve in such things as apple sauce, apple juice, apple jelly and other such things. If our apple orchard bears much fruit we can sell much of our harvest or we might even have a pick your own arrangement where people can buy what they pick. In all situations is the reality of the work in the now. It is the present reality. Peace.
Some people living in one day at a time recovery think of the future as something to look forward to. Those who do well in our system of meritocracy will make enough and also be able to invest enough to save enough for the future that their incomes will be the same as if they still had the securities that their jobs had afforded them. If only all of us could do the same. In another reality, in countries such as Canada, the government guarantees an income for us to get by on when we turn sixty-five. Because of this, most seniors get by, or manage to get by with enough to pay for the essentials of life. They might also receive subsidies if they can get into seniors housing. Those of us who don’t fit into either situation understand the reality of budgeting and trying to live within our means. Our plans for the future are simple things like ordering takeout this week, going to a movie, maybe saving for a staycation or even further travel or heading to a family member’s cottage for a couple of days. For some of us it’s a few extra hours of work to catch up on our bills. For some of us it’s waiting for that government pension or some other form of monthly check just so we might have a few bucks for coffee, perhaps an offering to charity or church and to give us the funds to replenish our groceries. In reality such things make us grateful and in gratitude we live in recovery. One more day of recovery and the hope of another one more day in recovery give us something to look forward to. In doing so we learn to live in today. We keep it simple. Peace.
Those of us who live in one day at a time recovery are familiar with (when). When is the projection to the future and in such projections are the conditions of when. For example – when things get less stressful I will stop using and when I stop using I will be happy and less controlling and when I am less controlling I will be able to relax and when I can relax I will be less stressed…. and so on and so forth… perhaps soon. Reality for many of us is we need help. Without help we live in avoidance of the now. We need to reach out. Also future projections bring us worry. The what ifs. What if I lose my job? What if I lose my house or my apartment? What if I get sick and the world goes to hell in a hand basket? What if? We just don’t know. We do our best to prepare for such adversity but our reality is some of us are just two paychecks away from bankruptcy. The when and the worry. We try not to live there. Living in today and doing what needs to be done today can keep when and worry away. Today, and living in recovery gives us hope. We need to be engaged in meaningful activities that help free our minds. Even if it’s just having a coffee with someone. Peace.
Many of us living in one day at a time recovery who know that we can visit a pleasant trip to the past can also know that we can make an unpleasant trip to a troubled past. Being stuck in past trauma that we have experienced or past trauma we have caused can really mess us up. Some of us wonder, do we ever let it go. After time some of us are able to do so enough that we can acknowledge and process trauma to a degree in which we no longer have to live in active addiction. For some of us we can live with such types of harm (done to and done by) to a point that we can become comfortable in our own skin. We call this resilience and courage. This is what all people have in common. Once again we all have resilience and courage. Especially recovering people. If we don’t have fear we cannot have courage. Facing life and the demons that have harmed us or the demons that have controlled us is probably the most courageous thing we will ever do. In doing so we understand empathy and forgiveness so should we so choose to do so. We do our visits to a troubled past but we can choose not to live there. We have already understood hell long enough. The gates are always open and we are allowed to leave. This is the reality of one day at a time recovery. We need to live in today. Peace.