Moving from Sobriety to Recovery with 7 Simple Additions

I often explain the difference between sobriety and recovery to people. For people who never struggled with addictions, they do not understand the two are different. In one of the fellowships, they have a clever way of presenting the difference by posing a question: 

"What do you get when you sober up a drunken horse thief?"

 You are left with a sober horse thief. You have made one problem better and the other worse. He is no longer drinking, but he is still stealing horses. He is going to be even better at it now that he is sober. That is a simple explanation of the difference between the two. In recovery, he is no longer drinking OR stealing horses. 

Sobriety is about the drinking and drugging only. If I am abstaining, I am sober. Recovery is about so much more than that. Recovery is about staying sober, fixing character defects, healing hurts and giving back. 

In sobriety, I may have stopped cutting myself, but I still cannot tell the truth. I may not be struggling with my eating disorder, but I still cheat every time I am in a relationship. I may not be drinking, but I am still starting fights with every one who looks at me. I may not be doing drugs, but I can't complete a sentence without dropping F-Bombs. I may not be sleeping with multiple partners, but I can't stop watching pornography. The list goes on and on. 

Some of the most unhappy, angry people I have met were clean and sober. They had never overcame their moral issues and character defects. They still wallowed in self-pity, anger and selfishness. They had never gotten over the loss of their one true love; their habit of choice. They still reminisced about the good old days, reliving that high and hating that they could never allow themselves to have it again. 

So what can you do? Start with the 5 Pillars: Higher Power, Sponsor, meetings, accountability partners and working the 12 steps. These 5 things always need to be present in your life. Read about them here: http://betterlifeinrecovery.blogspot.com/2014/12/long-term-recovery-5-pillars-of-recovery.html

Next, learn community service is not something a judge or probation officer assigns you. Stop taking resources from your community and start being one! Finally, work on being positive. Focus on the positives in your life and surround yourself with positive people. Start off each morning making a list of things you are grateful for to get the day started positively. Read about the gratitude list here: http://betterlifeinrecovery.blogspot.com/2015/01/long-term-recovery-gratitude-list.html

So, to recap

1.    Higher Power – Find One

2.    Sponsor – Get One

3.    Meetings – Go to them

4.    Accountability Partners – Talk to them regularly

5.    12 Steps – Don’t know them, apply them

6.    Give Back – From taking resources to being one

7.    Live Positively – Seriously, Do It!

This is how I went from dealing dope to dealing hope and found a better life in recovery!