Once drug and alcohol detox concludes, individuals must begin planning a course for long-term addiction recovery. Each person’s path to achieving the goal of lasting embetterment is unique in various ways but, by and large, they are mostly similar. The process usually begins with medical detox, residential treatment, and some form of extended care. During the early stages of recovery people adopt the principles of a program, guides for keeping you on the straight and narrow after treatment is no longer necessary.
If you are new to the program, or contemplating embarking on a journey of recovery, then you know a difficult task is before you. It’s probably apparent that help is needed if you are going to achieve the long-desired goal of abstinence. Outside support is of the utmost importance, accepting the help of others is really the only way to succeed. If you are thinking about treatment or are fresh in the program, chances are you tried to quit on your own once or twice. For most people in recovery, many failed attempts had to occur before they came to realize they could not do it on their own.
Addiction is a severe form of mental illness, driving victims to look for serenity in harmful ways. The disease tricks people into thinking they are strong enough to handle any problem on their own. What’s worse, those living with active alcohol and substance use disorder start believing they can manage through life, alone. Perhaps addicts and alcoholics could benefit from reading the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley, especially the lines: ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’
Wreckage of Addiction
It’s vital to remember that drugs and alcohol are a symptom of a more significant problem. Sure, mind-altering substances are problematic, and continued use will result in bodily harm; however, like most serious problems, they originate from within, not without. In early recovery, young men and women learn that the great issue they must contend with is that of Self. The internal drive to satiate an insidious yen: wanting what you want when you want it. It’s a mindset that leads to people doing unspeakable things to friends and family members in service to their disease.
Ego, selfishness, and self-centeredness results in people taking great risks, gambling with their future for a jackpot in the present. However, it’s a windfall that will never come; these are the delusions of grandeur besetting every addict. Living in service to mental illness may work for a time, but in the end those who do not address the problem of self by way of recovery—never fare well. Healing occurs when you look to your fellow man for support and guidance. Paradoxically, it’s when you surrender that you find freedom.
Many of us in recovery have impressive resumes that we would like nothing more than to erase, both on paper and in the minds of others. After a couple weeks in treatment, when the acute withdrawal subsides, and the mind comes into focus, one begins to see just how far the pendulum of reason had swung. It leads to a desire to clear up or amend our past mistakes or errors in judgment. Fortunately, recovery provides an avenue of recourse; it won’t happen right away, but in time, those who stay the course find hope. Individuals working programs of recovery will get the opportunity to “Act” for forgiveness, rather than ask.
Unconquered In Recovery
Regret, shame, and guilt are all words the addict and alcoholic are acutely familiar with in early recovery. One must do everything in their power to not let said feelings drive them out of the program before the miracle is revealed. When you are no longer using you have made a choice to surrender, you’ve admitted to yourself, and something greater than you, that you are powerless over your disease. You’ve asked for help, and you found it in the form of treatment and a community of caring men and women who have taken an interest in your success. It’s the beginning of an awakening.
Working a program will empower you to achieve goals, you likely have many goals after years of substance misuse and abuse. You see that others have cleared up the wreckage of their past as best they can and are seemingly happy with the path they chose. Rest assured you are eligible too; as long as you keep doing the next right things profound changes will occur in your life. That is where patience plays an important role, alterations for the better don’t happen overnight. Improvement takes place on life’s terms and it’s vital you do not lose hope.
In Latin, the word Invictus means “unconquerable” or “undefeated.” We choose recovery because we want to survive. We don’t owe our surrender to defeat, but rather a desire to live.
Hope Springs Eternal
When we were actively using we thought we had control over everything in our life’s sphere, the words ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,’ could have been our motto but for all the wrong reasons. In recovery we must apply the words above; in doing so we learn that the only thing we’ve got power over is our decisions; to Be for addiction or Be for progress. In recovery we find courage where none is apparent, we find dignity in making right our wrongs.
If you are hopeful for better days ahead and are willing to surrender and ask for guidance, it’s an action that will save your life. Drugs and alcohol may have stripped your ability to manage your life’s ins and outs, but they haven’t taken your will to choose to live for something better. With help, you can transcend the limits of addiction and prosper in the infinite possibilities of recovery.
At PACE Recovery Center, we are happy to help young men take the remarkable journey that is addiction recovery. We will give you the requisite tools and skills to lead a fulfilling life. Please contact us today.
