Change One Word to Super Size Your Recovery

It is amazing how much power can result from changing one word. I did this with the word HAVE, changing it to GET. That one change transformed my life. It completely changed my attitude. I no longer see things as obstacles but instead as opportunities. Here is how it is applied.

I used to hate going to recovery meetings. I would be fine once I got there, but the motivation to get there in the first place was missing. I would look at the clock and think to myself, “I have to go to a meeting tonight.” It was very low on my totem pole of things to do, even though I realized how important they were to my sobriety.

As I began to get more involved with the meetings, I opened myself up to doing more at them. I would set up chairs and tables for the meetings. I made coffee. I became necessary to the meetings and began to see them not as things I HAD to do, but things I GOT to do.  Soon I would see it was almost time for the meeting, and would say to myself, “I get to go to a meeting.”

Thinking of the meeting as something I got to do instead of something I had to do changed the way I looked at it. I started to appreciate meetings. I could have been in prison, but instead I had freedom. I could have been in a graveyard yet I was alive.

I got to be at a meeting. Being there was way better than some of the alternatives I could think of, so why not focus on the positive aspects?  

I now use that shift in vocabulary with everything I do. I don’t have to go to work; I get to go to work. I don’t have to go to training; I get to go to training. I don’t have to wake up in the morning; I get to wake up in the morning. I know the direction my life was headed in my addiction. My life’s trajectory has done a complete 180 thanks to recovery. How can I not appreciate what I get to do?

If you are always miserable, then you are working your program wrong! Will you have days that are disappointing? Of course, but will you let the disappointments or the successes define you?

I chose to put the majority of my focus on my successes. I introduce myself not as an addict, but as one in recovery because of that. I am defined by my success, not by my shortcomings!

So the next time you are having a pity party for yourself, remember that there are much worse things that could be happening in your life. The next time you are at a meeting filled with Negative Nancy and Debbie Downer attitudes, shout the praises of recovery. Remind everyone that recovery is filled with joy and hope.

After all, there is a Better Life in Recovery!