"Are there Many Pathways to Recovery?"
You’ve heard it said many times- “There are many pathways to recovery.” “Recovery” or “sobriety”?
Certainly, there are many pathways people have traveled to attain sobriety - hospitals, jails, detox/inpatient/outpatient programs, drug courts, divorce courts, self-improvement programs, mutual aid groups, spiritual retreats, etc.
The “pathway” to sobriety may be imposed on someone or it may be voluntary. Either way, the state of being sober doesn’t speak to the quality and satisfaction of one’s life. After all, you were born to be sober. Right?
Recovery is another matter. Recovery is built on sobriety but it speaks of your entire human experience.
May I suggest that there are numerous pathways to sobriety but only one “pathway” to an authentic recovery. That one “pathway” is not a pathway at all. It’s a natural process that all people may experience.
It is not a romanticized, heroic journey to wholeness through the dark forest of illicit drug use and alcohol misuse.
It is not you assuming the identity of a powerless, diseased victim of a greedy pharmaceutical company.
The “pathway” to recovery is not a pathway at all. It’s a legal process determined in a unique court of law.
In this “courtroom”, you are the defendant and the prosecutor. You have no defense counsel.
You are also the judge.
Your trial begins. You present evidence against yourself and you do not contest any of it. As judge, your deliberations are painfully empathetic. The verdict is a foregone conclusion - guilty as charged!
You don’t try to escape the verdict of being morally guilty by labeling it a remnant of misguided religiosity.
To your credit, you accept it.
It’s true.
You have convicted yourself through an internal process of self-conviction as opposed to an outward verdict of a court-conviction!
You are now free to serve your self-imposed sentence: a life of grateful service.
Life as the person you were meant to be. A son, wife, father, daughter….your identity restored, guided by your conscience.
Through the fires of self-persecution, you emerge with fresh insights into life that motivate you to maximize your humanity for the benefit of others!
Your “sentence” is actually a gateway to peace of mind and meaningful living.
The pathway of authentic recovery?
One of self-accusing, not self-excusing. Not court conviction but self-conviction!
#addictionrecovery ed@recoverreality.com