The Springfield Recovery Community Center: Hope Starts Here

I have not been writing on here as I should, but that will hopefully be changing soon. I have been extremely busy recently and my writing has not been going as it needs to be. I am dedicated from this day forward to putting out at least one blog a month, on the first Friday of every month. I may on occasion write more than that, but right now I have a ton on my plate. 

Today, though, I have some major news. On May 1st Better Life in Recovery, in partnership with New Beginnings Sanctuary and a non-profit I am not yet at liberty to reveal will be opening up a 3000 square foot Recovery Community Center (RCC), located behind the neighborhood Wal-Mart on South Glenstone. We will be in the strip mall located at 1925 East Bennett. We will start with limited hours.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Eight years ago today my world stopped. I tried to act like it didn’t bother me. I actually laughed at the time, because that is what I do when I am hurting. Then I drank, a lot. I went down to Florida and tried to drown my sorrows. I tried to see what chance I had of escaping the truth. In the end I found I already knew the answer.

NONE!

ZERO!

Better Life in Recovery Plans for 2016

We looked at what Better Life in Recovery has been able to do since it was founded in 2012. In 2012 we had one event that impacted probably 50 people directly. It was a lot of fun, but we were just beginning. In the last blog we looked at all that we did in 2015. Summation, we had 64 events that impacted directly over 1,000 people and people in long-term recovery put in almost 2,000 hours of non-court ordered community service because it was the right thing to do. Now, we look at what we are planning for 2016.

Better Life in Recovery: 2015 Year in Review

I would like to thank everyone who partnered with Better Life in Recovery this year. Whether you came to an event as a participant, helped plan an event, sponsored an event or volunteered with us to make an impact in our community I say thank you!! In 2012 we did one event, in 2013 we did 3 events and in 2014 we held 8 events. 2015 was the first year we came out in full  force.

Here is what Better Life in Recovery accomplished in 2015:

Long-Term Recovery: The Gratitude List

I used to have horrible mornings, and they would lead to incredibly horrible days. I would set my alarm clock for when I needed to wake up, but it was my daily pattern to hit snooze several times before getting out of bed. When I would finally get out of bed, I would be running late. That would lead to me throwing on clothes, leaving work with neither a prepared lunch nor breakfast. If I was lucky, I would grab a pop tart while I was headed out the door. If I didn’t have one of those, I would stop at McDonalds or just go without eating breakfast.

Thank God I'm a Pickle!!

Sitting in the rooms I once heard a man say that you can’t turn a pickle back into a cucumber. He was saying that as a reply to another person who had asked if they would ever be normal again. That is what was said, and the subject was dropped at that. Basically, the answer was, “NO!!! You will never be normal again!” The guy did not seem very happy with that answer. I guess that he wanted to be normal again. He wanted to become a cucumber again. I felt sorry for him, so I had to reply. This is probably not word for word what I said, but it is as near as I can remember:

The Truth About Recovery

I have people tell me to sum up recovery for them, "In your opinion, what is recovery?" I find this extremely hard to do. I once heard someone say that recovery was like playing a country music song backwards, because you get back your house, your truck, your dog and your wife. I have gained so much in my recovery, that it is difficult to qualify or quantify what recovery means "for me."

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so instead of telling you what recovery means to me I will show you what it means to me: