Addiction Steals From Us
Addiction is a thief. It steals our happiness, family, relationships, homes, careers, possessions, and our potential. Once we’ve lost everything, including our potential to be anything, see anything, and experience anything, there is hope. The reason why there is hope, is because it is at this point that you either give up and give in to the disease or you wave the white flag and ask for help.
If you have chosen the latter, good on you! You have a lot of living to do, and participating in your recovery will begin to unfold a new life you never thought possible. When we get to the point in our addiction that we realize we just can’t keep it up any longer, our lives are usually pretty messy. It takes awhile to rebuild the pieces worth keeping, and to add in new ones we were missing. As long as you stay sober, your life will continue to improve. If you don’t, you’ll go back to square one, only worse.
Sobriety Lets You Notice Things
As you put together some time in sobriety, you may notice that your family actually wants you around, and that it’s possible to keep a job and begin saving a little money. You might even be considering going back to school, or completing something that you started but never finished. A lot of us may have negative feelings about our past and how much we have missed because of our addiction.
However, we cannot drive a boat forward by looking backward. Imagine a world where everyone tried to keep walking by looking behind them. When we’re distracted by anything other than the present moment we tend to eventually crash right into it.
We walk into something or someone. Imagine driving that way! We wouldn’t ‘live’ our lives that way in terms of what we do. Why would we live our lives that way in terms of what we think? The past is the past- plain and simple. What we can do- what we are completely capable of every single day we are sober in recovery- is changing the present and working toward a better future.
Yes, it is true, we missed some stuff. It might even be true that we missed some really great stuff and we’ll never be able to go back to un-miss it. Addiction is what brought us here today. Though addiction might have caused us to miss part of our lives, it is the very reason we are present and sober in our lives right now. In time, and with more time sober, you’ll realize that’s nothing but a good thing.
At the Lakehouse Recovery Center, you will learn how to enjoy life again. Whether it’s taking the boat out, or doing yoga, our approach will help you begin the healing process. You can recover, but you have to wave the white flag and give us a call. We are available 24/7, toll-free at (877) SOBER | (877) 762-3707.