Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of living in a dark and dreary mist. Some would say that such a place is necessary for human growth but most of us would choose not to live there. This is the reality of addiction. Many of us while living in such despair cry out, “God help me” and God does. We uncover and discover the reality of resilience. Our prayer life begins. Unexplained things start to happen. Some of us find ourselves in a hospital, a detox, a rehab, or a 12 step meeting and in doing so we find the reality of one day at a time recovery. The darkness lifts and the mist evaporates. The sun begins to shine. We understand that life will never be perfect but it will be doable and it will be doable with happiness and joy. Welcome to hope. It has always been. Peace.
Once upon a time many people who are living in one day at a time recovery were kids living in their own little worlds. We had dreams of becoming rock stars, actors, sports figures, or poets. To us life didn’t appear to be too terribly lonely but we did have desires of being or making friends. When we did, and when active addiction held us in its grips something detrimental happened to us. What happened was we couldn’t grow up (for a while anyways). Active addiction began to own us and what always happens in addiction is we hit a wall and we knew we needed help. It was now time to grow up. We reached out and found help in 12 step personhoods. It was the beginning of an awakening. We started to grow up (this is not a put down because we all need to be a part of maturity). Reality was dawning. When we found reality we discovered a life of miracles. It’s an opportunity to live a life of grace. Once upon a time is gone. Enjoy the new reality. Peace.
Every single last one of us who are living in one day at a time recovery never saw the ill affects of active addiction coming. We were people who lived our lives being ill at ease and the buzz we got from using brought us a hint of euphoria giving us the courage and the confidence we longed to have. We did not see the chains that grew around our being day as we became unable to take responsibility like any mature person could do. Suffering became a daily occurrence for us. In our desperation we reached out for help and found ourselves meeting with people who were recovering in 12 step programs and other forms of peer support. Many of us turned to professional help. Recovery was now in our grasp. We found the reality of grace which was nothing short of a miracle. Providence had intervened. Peace
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the twisted reality of “I am”. In truth we are saying I am worthy of love and belonging as well as I am important. What we discover is our egos tell us that any thought or direction that criticizes its being is wrong because our egos, that need to be all important, fears the reality that it is not the whole picture but it is just a small piece of the puzzle. In time we get to understand that the ego might always be the first to speak up but our every being learns to accept and enjoy being a part of instead of being the unique part from. We start to realize how foolish our thinking can be. We learn how to let go. It’s all grace and in this we welcome that we belong. We start to grow. The doors are opening. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand that their abstinence is changing the world for other people. This happens because their adjustments to life changes the realities of their personalities which in turn brings concern for others which makes the world a better place for those close to them. We, and we are switching to we now, become aware of this change as we become vessels on a calm sea becoming ever so dependable to those close to us. We are simply becoming conduits of a better energy who are reaping the benefits of freedom from active addiction. What we are now understanding is the world is changing and we are just going with the flow. God, the spirit, or the universe has made it so and we know it’s all about grace. Peace.
Most people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of being overly attached. Such an attachment can be the cause of many of our fears. We are afraid of losing what we have or haven’t gotten yet especially when such an attachment is all consuming. Often this attachment is in actually a dependance often similar to the realities of addiction especially when we need to practice the reality of letting go and letting God. When we understand this we understand the nature of addiction which is our fears have created a need for certainty. Reality tells us that certainty is never guaranteed in life and we need to face its reality. When we are living in one day at a time recovery we live with and accept uncertainty. We stop trying to control everything. Grace becomes our mentor. As was said, “We let go” Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery come to a point in their lives where they understand what is debatable and what is not. For some of us who are older, we realized that we were blind and deaf before we were in our 50’s. What we realized is that before this we were developing innocents who had little clues as to who or what we are. By the time we reach our 60’s we realize our need for grace and that we have all paid the price for having narcissistic egos which we get to understand functioned proudly, though frightened, trying to defend its worthiness. Reality is though that when we hit our 60’s it wanes a bit should we let it. Now we really get to know ourselves. The need for grace is no longer debatable. We need it. It’s knocking at our door. Peace.
Man people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of accepting sorrow. What we need to understand is there is a difference between accepting sorrow and being overtaken by depression. When accepting sorrow we are living in a reality of sadness or melancholy where as depression needs professional help. When we talk about accepting sorrow the only treatment that we need is to listen to a sad song ( Like “Sad Songs” sung by Elton John) or perhaps even a good cry on a friend’s shoulder. What is happening then is we are developing resilience and we will become a shoulder for another to cry on. We understand that accepting sorrow can be a part of life. We don’t live in sorrow. Sorrow becomes a stepping stone to peace. We are being welcomed into life and recovery. Acceptance of sorrow is a tool of recovery. Peace.
Many of us living with mental health disorders and addiction discover living in recovery is all about finding our niche in reality. The difficulty of finding our niche in reality is that we have to survive our delusional thinking long enough to discover the reality of wellness. When we discover reality we learn our lives are not as bad or as grand as we believe they are. In humility we have to circumnavigate our delusions becoming ordinary people no matter how attuned we are to surviving love’s dreams, disappointments, and absolute joys. We discover we are just like our kin which is we are people, just people. It is a wonderful reality as we awaken isn’t it. Welcome to the human race. Welcome to reality.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery eventually realize the reality of navigating their own thoughts. What many of us learn is our thoughts and our thinking are really two different functions of our minds. We do not have to be influenced by our thoughts as much as we might believe that we do. We will discover that when we think our minds are in a process of discerning our reality and our next, or our future course of action which is either to control what the outcome will be or to move on to a different task or reality. Thinking always prepares us for what is or what will be even when we try to amend our past. What we learn is thoughts are often from outside of ourselves which are often unworthy of our attention. What we discover is a good therapist or an intuitive person with a good deal of integrity can help. Many of us use centering prayer to help us let go. This is letting go and letting God. Today we can choose. Peace.