Long-Term Recovery: It Works if You Work It

I was hacked off this week. A friend relapsed, and it made me angry at first. How can anyone who has significant clean time relapse. Once you have several years and see life is amazing without drugs/alcohol, what could possess you to use again?

Then I remembered how cunning, baffling and strong addiction can be. I thought back to my relapses in the past. I no longer wanted to use, yet I did anyway. There were multiple reasons that I relapsed. In a way they were useful to me because I always learned and grew from them.

In the wake of his relapse, I reflected on the things that have kept me rocking a sober recovery this time. Never forget, your addiction is in the back of your head: running on a treadmill, lifting weights and doing research! It is getting stronger and smarter each and every day, trying to figure out the best way to take over your life again. This is to be avoided at all costs!!

If our addiction is getting stronger and smarter, we obviously need to insure our recovery is stronger than our addiction. The question is, how do we strengthen our recovery? There is no easy way. In fact, it can be difficult at first. Here is how I have built long-term recovery:

I started and stuck with The 5 Pillars of Recovery

1.    Get a Higher Power

2.    Go to meetings

3.    Get a sponsor

4.    Work steps

5.    Find accountability partners

You can read more about the 5 Pillars here: http://betterlifeinrecovery.blogspot.com/2014/12/long-term-recovery-5-pillars-of-recovery.html

The Pillars are a solid foundation, but as you build sobriety there are a few other things you must add. Every morning I write a Gratitude List. I list 5 things that I am grateful for. I meditate on those 5 things for 5 minutes. I follow that with a prayer of thanks for all that I have, strength for my friends and family that are struggling and the ability to be God’s hands and feet to the people I meet.

I engage in a lot of Community Service. Giving back is huge. I feel better when I am a resource. I also follow The Platinum Rule (http://betterlifeinrecovery.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-platinum-rule.html), treating others the way I would want them to treat the people I care about the most. I applied The One Rule that Changed My Life (http://betterlifeinrecovery.blogspot.com/2014/12/long-term-recovery-one-rule-that.html).

I have Changed Playgrounds and Playmates. Rascal Flatts is right about friends in their song Moving On, “They mean me no harm but they’ll never allow me to change.” Not associating with people or going to places that could get me in trouble was a huge boon to my recovery. It made sobriety easier.

Apply these and you will not relapse as my friend did. Instead, I guarantee you find a Better Life in Recovery!