Many people living in one day at a time recovery discover that there is never enough time in our lives for us to do all the good that is realistically and unintentionally living within the confines of our experiential knowledge. We just cannot always get our best selves (our true selves) to break through the surface of our good intentions and often find ourselves falling short of helping others because we are people whose lives often center around me and those who are closest to me. This does not mean we are bad people. It just means we are human beings. In reality though, our experiential knowledge and our ability to do good does come to surface enough times that we do do good and help others in our efforts to be kind, caring, and compassionate people. It’s our reality of extending a hand whenever and wherever we can. Peace.
Those of us who live in one day at a time recovery benefit and heal when we hear compassionate words from others. Compassionate words not only help us to heal they also restore our faith in humanity, community, and ourselves. Our struggles with mental health disorders and our journey to live in recovery from active addiction is much more doable because of the kind souls who show us love in our quest to discover our inherent worth one day at a time. All we can say is that compassionate people don’t know how much they have helped us. What we hope others get to understand is that compassionate words have saved lives, changed lives, and has made living in recovery possible for us. With much gratitude we say thank you. Peace.
Some people who are living in one day at a time recovery know the reality of emotional instability which often takes place because of life and its complicated challenges. We know that there will be periods of our lives in which we stand alone especially when all seems wrong. In our journeys of seeking recovery we discover we live in a cold cruel world plagued with prejudice and conspiracy theories. It sounds like we are living in our own little personal catastrophes which at times seem insurmountable and impossible to recover from. This is what it is sometimes like to live with mental health disorders accompanied by addictions. Nonetheless some of us become advocates, educators, and realist who try and help others navigate this thing we call recovery. It is a difficult thing to do. Especially when other advocates won’t hear us. Grace and one day at a time living keep us going. Someone has to. No body else is going to do it for us. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the benefits of daily journaling. When we journal we explore the realities of our lives, the difficulties of our lives, the hopes that we have, and we live out practical solutions which have made our happiness or our inner-peace possible. For those of us living in recovery we explore the realities of one day at a time living. We discover reality, balance, and freedom. We will not get to become perfect, we will still experience adversity and pain, and we will still know fear but we will uncover a courage that we never knew existed. Life becomes a welcomed experience. Journaling reveals this to us. We will get to see the importance of each and every person. We all matter. We were an interrupted reality which is now filled with emerging grace. We have found hope. Peace.
Many people who have been living in one day at a time recovery understand when grace comes calling we take its hand with our sweaty palm and follow its lead to wherever it might take us. Grace’s utmost reality is it guides us into one more day of abstinence and recovery. Such is the freedom from active addiction. We understand the reality of once a cucumber becomes a pickle it cannot be turned back into a cucumber. Our truth is that we would not want it to turn back because grace has given us new lease on life. In life we have recovery, joy, and freedom. Grace in all of its persistence brings a new calm that frees our souls. It’s a gift that does for us what we could not do for ourselves. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand that when we find reality we are developing the ability of being people who can teach others the importance of finding abstinence and reality for themselves. After all, the gift of desperation led us to a place where we sat down with ourselves and came to the realization that we simply had to stop using. There was a loneliness so deep inside that many of us felt hopeless and beaten. Some of us cried out, “God help me!” And God did. After being abstinent months, years, or decades later we discovered we were in recovery because of grace. We understood that God worked through other people and that in the togetherness with others we too could help others. Our loneliness had subsided and our stories became a beacon of hope for others. It’s our reality. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery come to an understanding that in all of our suffering God is with us, God was with us, and God will be with us. This is life and reality all rolled-up into a ball. We have heard it said that God takes care of drunks and fools. In a no uncertain way we know this to be true. Life, and recovery, would be a God-awful joke if it wasn’t. We get to see that we are living in the reality of grace and because of grace we learn to suffer well because our thinking is no longer impaired. Now we live in the midst of being free from active addiction. Because of this we find reality, love, and hope. It’s all part of a journey that we have to travel. Peace.
Many people who live life one day at a time eventually learn that recovery is not a competition. It is not about who gains the most amount of time with continuous abstinence. Those of us who have been around for a few years are soon to understand that time in recovery is in all actuality a break from our ill-fitted fate. It’s a combination of desperation, commitment, and grace that enables us to gather any amount of substantial time in which we are abstinent, healthy, and free from active addiction. Although many of us become spiritually fit we realize that we haven’t become conquerors in spiritual warfare. We are people who have surrendered to the idea that we need to remain abstinent just for today. We also understand we can only keep what we have by giving it away. Recovery is not a competition. It’s a gift. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand that there are times when living in recovery is supposed to be hard. This reality becomes increasingly evident when we argue with others over reasonable solutions that might help us to overcome difficulties. To do so we need to participate in doable actions. Such doable actions are to live one day at a time and also to let go of the reality of blame. We also practice the reality of mutual respect. In doing so we understand the reality of we. When we understand we, we understand the gift of one day at a time recovery. Togetherness is the reality of grace. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery know the reality of remembering forgotten roads of long ago. Most of the time such roads are memories of an ill-spent youth. Some would say that we lived the lives of prodigal children. What some would call teen-age wasteland was an impaired and troublesome period of our lives. As we walk down these roads we see we were like bulls running wild in a china shop and the damage we did we cannot fix. We are not those of us who can say that we have no regrets. The wise amongst us have told us to believe in grace which is always revealed to us in one day at a time living. Most of us know this. It’s part of the journey. Peace