Most of us enter sobriety or the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous and hear somebody at some point blurt out the phrase, “If you blah blah blah, you will have a life beyond your wildest dreams”. It’s usually that or something to that effect. The message being delivered is completely and utterly true though. Once you get through a few of the Charlie Brown lectures, the words other alcoholics share at meetings will start standing out more. We all enter recovery or the rooms in one way or another because we weren’t able to catch up to life anymore, or vice versa. The powerlessness and unmanageability were taking a firm grip on our souls, and the only options left looked very grim. So naturally, some of us finally looked for a solution and found self-help programs such as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. This is where all the fundamentals of our using lives start to slip away. Once an effort is put into working some sort of a program, the changes start rapidly appearing, the ninth step promises miraculously start occurring, and you will develop a life beyond your wildest dreams.
A largely shared goal in life is for everyone to want to be happy and to proudly stand behind the person they present as. It’s quite a warming feeling to look at something you produced and know you put integrity and effort into it. Or for somebody to look at you and know who you are and what you’re capable of, and accept you for all your ways- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Essentially the idea is to be able to be yourself and be totally comfortable with who you are. That’s what this article encompasses as well as promotes the driving point of recovery.
What It Takes
It’s recommended, (for all who are suffering from the misery active addiction brings), to envelop yourself into a program, get a sponsor, and start working the twelve steps. These are the key ingredients to the equation of recovery. It is with due diligence and perseverance to change that we start seeing the results we are looking for. Recovery is a very difficult yet simple thing to practice. A balance in all aspects of life is required to maintain that happy, joyous, and free lifestyle that getting clean distributes. Just like anything else in life, it takes practice to get the swing of things. I’m paraphrasing here, but like the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says, “we maintain progress rather than perfection” As long as we continue to step forward and work on ourselves, we are doing something right.
One of the big components of recovery and building a happy life is practicing integrity, which is also more commonly known as honesty. One of my favorite definitions of integrity is being honest in front of people as well as behind closed doors. Integrity is more so a way of life and not just a simple act. As you continue to drop the little white lies here and there, it feels like an immense weight will have been lifted off of your shoulders. It takes five seconds to tell the truth but all day to produce a lie. It’s a matter of accepting you’re a human being and that it’s natural to make mistakes. Nobody is perfect for starters. Everybody makes mistakes and as long as your intentions with something were honest, then you can always come back from that. I always preach that life is but a collection of mistakes and learning from them.
This brings me to my next point- growth. As long as we catalog our past, we are not doomed to repeat it in the future. Learning from your problems and creating a solution is what it boils down to. Chances are most of the problems we deal with are self-inflicted. Admitting it starts with us can sometimes be difficult, but spending time complaining doesn’t have a benefit. Looking at every situation from multiple perspectives is the best perspective.
The Warm Fuzzies
It’s truly remarkable how drastic of a change our lives will flip if we are honest, open, and willing with our recovery. The big book quotes, “we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and happiness”. This couldn’t be truer than true. The promises are basically that you are going to have things again, and not just material possessions. You’re going to have happiness. You’ll be excited to get out of bed every day rather than pray for the day to end so you can sleep away all your problems. My apologies, for that might just be me projecting a little bit. Moving on. You’ll be able to have that warm butterfly feeling that we all crave more consistently. We get that feeling from doing the right thing. It’s so much more enjoyable to be a good person who does a few bad things occasionally than to be a bad person who does good things every now and then.
On with the promises of a life beyond your wildest dreams, you’ll have your sanity and rationality back. When deep in active addiction, we always think we see things so clearly. Looking back, it’s more than apparent that we were looking at life through fogged glass. To know that you’re not looking at life in a distorted view anymore is very comforting. It’s just something about knowing how clear headed you’ve become and seeing a light on the pathway instead of fumbling around in the complete darkness.
Struggling to Find That Lifestyle?
Sometimes things are easier said than done. The promises do come true, but this is after successfully detoxing and beginning to work a program. If you or a loved one are having a hard time putting your addiction and alcoholism on the back burner, please call 844-489-0836 or visit www.firststepsrecovery.com. Our teams of trained specialists are waiting to help you or your loved one find that life you’ve been searching for.
