Finding Balance
One of the most wonderful gifts we receive from our journey of recovery is the ability to finally live a life of balance. Many of us lacked any sort of balance in our lives. Our addictions became our central motivation, and all other aspects of our lives fell by the wayside. When the problem is removed, however, we are finally able to begin searching for a sense of balance in every area of our lives that is conducive to our spiritual growth and progress in our recovery.
Finding balance is a process that requires us to look at our individual needs. We know that we will surely lose anything we put before our recovery, but we also cannot ignore our family lives, professional lives, or any other necessary facet of our lives. For some of us, balance is a problem of prioritization. The logical answer is to incorporate the spiritual principles of recovery into every area of our life—as the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous suggests, we “practice these principles in all of our affairs.”
We cannot allow ourselves to draw distinctions between our “recovery life” and other areas of our life. Instead, we carry a code of love and tolerance into every one of our interactions and constantly strive for spiritual growth. We find that our recovery is not a part of our lives, but inextricably intertwined with who we have become, and carried with us at every moment.
The problem of balance may, however, come down to simple issues of time management. We are aware that recovery is our priority, but there are areas of our lives that we must attend to. Perhaps the demands of our job or family obligations make it difficult to make time for our recovery needs or, conversely, we begin neglecting our other obligations to focus on our spiritual life in recovery. If this is the case, we have to take an introspective look at our values.
The Big Book explains, “He will perceive that his spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an average man like himself, a spiritual life which does not include his family obligations may not be so perfect after all.”
Make Time For Your Recovery
We must prioritize and make time for our recovery, but we don’t want to cause undue harm to others by doing so. Fortunately, we can often look toward others within the recovery community who have faced the same problems and managed to find balance. As long as we are putting our recovery first and doing our best to fulfill all other obligations, things will tend to work out. After all, considering how much time we wasted when we were in a state of active addiction, we should have little trouble putting our newfound time to good use.
Your life can become one of balance and serenity in sobriety. You can escape the chaos of addiction by making the decision to seek help now. The Lakehouse Recovery Center offers 30 to 90-day residential treatment that is specifically tailored to each client’s needs in order to best prepare them for an esteemed and sober life after treatment. For information about individualized treatment options, please call today: (877) 762-3707