Addiction Treatment Centers » Staying Plugged in to Recovery

Staying Plugged in to Recovery

Filed Under Beating Addiction |

How can we stay plugged in to our recovery and ultimately overcome addiction?

Plugged in
Photo by j / f / photos

This the third part in a series about beating addiction. The first 2 parts were:

1. The secret of overcoming addiction and alcoholism.

2. Transforming your life with a spiritual experience.

In this post, I’ll be outlining how to stay plugged in to recovery.

Why is important to stay “plugged in” to recovery? Because we
actually forget that we are addicts and alcoholics.

Now at first this statement seems ridiculous to most people. How can
we forget such a fundamental truth that we have come to know about
ourselves? Many of us immerse ourselves in recovery, go to meetings, participate in
sponsorship, and read recovery literature, so
how in the world could we actually forget that we are addicted?

This is part of the cunning nature of the disease. Obviously, we
don’t completely forget about our addiction–not for any length of
time anyway. But what happens is that we might see an advertisement
for beer, or see our old crack dealer walking down the street, and we
have to catch ourselves. For just a split second we almost react,
forgetting about how we are now in recovery.

Now don’t get me wrong–we catch ourselves very quickly in these
situations. Usually within a mere second or two. But the damage is
done, in that a thousand little triggers can start to wear down on us
after a while. We might drive past the old bar that we use to drink
at and think for a split second, “gee, a beer would be nice…” and
then we catch ourselves. Does experiencing this trigger make us go
drink? Of course not. But it might play in our minds a bit. Then
the next day something else will hit us in much the same way,
triggering the old feelings. If we aren’t progressing in our recovery
in between these intermittent triggers, they will eventually add up
and overwhelm us.

This is counterintuitive, because any one of us can make it through
a single trigger or urge to use drugs and alcohol. We know we can because we
have done it before. It’s not that hard. What makes this so
tricky is that the triggers add up. Each little trigger accumulates,
until we become miserable enough to take a serious look at
self-medicating again. Then we are in trouble.

Staying plugged in to recovery

As we maintain sobriety, triggers and urges will inevitably arise. In
order to deal with them, we need to maintain a certain level of active
progress in our recovery; in our spiritual growth. Again, this is
counterintuitive. We believe that once we learn how to deal with
triggers, we will remember for the rest of our lives. Recovery
doesn’t work that way–it doesn’t matter how smart you are or how good your
memory is. We still forget that we are addicts, if even for a split
second! And that is enough to start piling up a mountain of misery if
we are not actively pursuing spiritual growth. The key is that we
need to stay active in this pursuit. A boring, passive routine will
cause us to stagnate.

Pursuing spiritual growth

The big book of Alcoholics Anonymous states that our continued sobriety
is based on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. How does this
work? Well, let’s say for example that a recovering addict wakes up
every day in their recovery and does the following things:

1) Prays to a higher power

2) Meditates

3) Reads a daily reading, such as from the “24 Hour a Day” book or
NA’s “Just for Today”

4) Goes to a meeting and shares their experience openly

5) Works directly with other alcoholics and helps them to recover

6) Tries to genuinely draw closer to a higher power and to do his
will in their life

Any recovering addict or alcoholic who is doing those things every day
has a very good chance of maintaining sobriety. The critical thing
here is that this person is practically immune to the occasional
trigger or urge to use drugs or alcohol. Their daily routine is not
stagnant and passive, but instead it is filled with opportunity for
spiritual growth. Their life in recovery is dynamic. They are
interacting with others in recovery every day, and learning and
growing with them. They are actively pursuing a meaningful
relationship with a higher power.

Now, do you have to do all of those things, every day, in order to
recover? Not necessarily. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try some
or all of those things in order to get a baseline for your own
spiritual growth and development. Each thing on that list is a tool
that will directly help you to stay plugged in to your recovery and
ultimately help you to overcome addiction.

Make sure to check back next week, for the fourth part of this series in beating addiction: “Major stumbling blocks in recovery and how to overcome them.” Make sure you subscribe via RSS or sign up to receive posts through email if you don