The Gifts of Recovery

In recovery, we’re given so much more than we bargained for: not only total freedom from the horrors of drug addiction, but a new attitude and outlook on the world. We’re given a second chance at life, which is not something that many people get. And while we’re given all of this by virtue of recovery, we must also realize that there are things neither addiction treatment nor recovery can promise us. We have to accept that we may never regain all that we have lost. More importantly, we have to be okay with this fact and grateful for the gifts recovery has bestowed upon us.

If we’re going to be realistic, we have to know what recovery doesn’t give us. Many of us have lost our husbands or wives. They’ve perhaps divorced or simply left us do to our addictions. Our families, as well, have endured so much pain that they might have disowned us. If they have not, we must still prepare ourselves for the chance that they may never trust us. Our relationship with our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters may never be the same again. Drug addiction being as expensive as it is, we may also come into recovery with an overwhelming debt on our shoulders. Or perhaps we’re dealing with the legal consequences of our addictions that haven’t gone away when we’re well into recovery.

Whatever the case may be, we mustn’t be disheartened by the cruel and cold realities of what recovery doesn’t give us. The gift of recovery itself is enough to weather any storm and stay sober in any situation. We simply don’t need our families, our friends, money, or anything else to stay sober. How can this be so? If we look back, we’ll see that none of these things caused or stopped our addiction in the first place. We got high whether or not our families were speaking to us. We got high whether or not we had money in our pockets. We got high when we were single, when we were dating and when we were married. We got high when we were on probation and facing jail time. We got high no matter what.

It would be nice if recovery gave back all the things that we’ve lost. It may or may not, but it doesn’t promise anything. This is not bad news, as we’ve never needed anything to get high, anyway. All we’ve ever needed was a hit to live, to eat, to breathe, to survive. This is the gift of recovery, the gift of living and eating and breathing and surviving in total freedom from addiction.